Unlikely
by FropessionalWriter95
Summary: AU* Jay Walker was always a happy kid. Through all of his grade school years, he was able to hide his problems with a cover of a friendly face. But when he enrolles for college and meets a new roommate, he begins to realize that he can't hide his fears anymore. And that even the most unlikeliest of people can become friends. Basically platonic. Cover image drawn by me.
1. Roomies

Jay was a boy filled with a lively spirit, whose laughter and simple smile could always bring joy to others. Everywhere he went, he greeted those around him with a friendly 'hello' or 'howdy', his blue eyes sparkling with energy.

Every grade he went up, his optimism did as well. Many students wondered how he could keep his energy at that level. Some thought he consumed large amounts of sugar everyday to keep him lively. Others thought he was born with a disease of pure happiness.

Which was just silly.

But of course, Jay was just like every other boy or girl on the inside.

Stress, social relationships, family relationships, and growing up.

He was a normal boy.

* * *

"Oh, Ed, our son's going off to college soon," Edna said with a half smile. They were both sad to see their son go, but it was for the good.

"Oh, uh, you mean in 5 minutes, Edna," Ed told her with a point at the clock. True, Jay was about to leave the house and head off into a new place where he would spend the next four years.

Edna, as a mother, handed Jay his jacket and hugged him tightly. As her soft brown hair rubbed against Jay's cheek, he let out a soft sigh and he hugged his mom back.

"It's alright Mom and Dad, I promise I'll come back to visit you guys soon." Once he and his mother parted, he gave them his signature smile, which always lifted his parents spirits. Ed wiped the tears from his eyes and took his turn to embrace his son.

Finally, Jay heaved his backpack over his back and picked up his duffel bag. Walking towards the door, he gave his parents one last look and walked out the door.

As he walked to the car, he thought about the types of clubs he'd try and join if interested. He had to make new friends, he had lost all of them at the end of high school. Some of them moving out of the city or state, others just to never see again.

Before he started the car, Jay quickly checked his phone and saw that his parents had already sent him over 30 messages. Most of them corrections. He chuckled softly to himself and turned if off, then started the engine.

"Well Jay, soon, you get a clean slate. Let's not mess this up, buddy."

* * *

The door creaked open causing Cole to jump. He shut his book and walked towards the door, holding his book by his head ready to whack anyone who walked through.

Slowly, the door opened. Cole eyed it carefully and furrowed his brows, lifting his book higher.

"Hello?"

With quick instincts, Cole swung the book and thwacked the stranger on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

The voice was high, and sounded too young. Cole grabbed the edge of the door and opened it wider to get a good look at he was up against. "Who are you? You're not one of those jerks from yesterday, are you?"

Turning his head, Cole met with energetic blue eyes which somewhat made him feel more alive.

"Jerk? I guess you could call me that," he said with a laugh.

Cole lifted a brow and set his book down on the table beside him.

"Is this your room? It's way to clean, hah, you should've seen my room back home; it was a total dump! Ooh, what's this? You got a lava lamp?! That's so cool! What else ya got? Any video games? Movies? Co-" He stopped when Cole's hand grabbed his wrist and pulled it away.

"What do you think you're doing? This is my stuff… And you still haven't answered my question, who are you?"

The blue eyed kid gulped when he saw Cole's fiery eyes. "I'm Jay," he said with a wide grin, "pleased to meet ya." He anxiously stuck out his opposite hand in hopes that the other would shake it.

Instead, he let go of Jay, shut the door and flopped down onto his bed.

Just yesterday, when he first got his room, he noticed two beds sitting in the dorm. He had wondered why the dorm was so big when he was just one person, and why there were two beds. So, to take up space, he used the other bed as a storage for his books and bags.

"What are you doing here?" Cole asked Jay.

He then noticed the bags by the door.

It couldn't be…

"I guess you're the lucky one! Cause I'm your new roommate!"

Jolting up, Cole hit his head against a small hanging shelf and fell backwards onto the mattress, eyes closed.

"Uh, you okay there buddy?"

Cole opened his eyes and grabbed a chunk full of the blanket in his hands angrily. " _Don't_ , call me _buddy_ …" he began laughing in a way that made Jay shiver. Sitting up, Cole put a hand to his forehead and continued laughing. "Heh, a roommate? Since when?"

Offended, Jay out his hands to his hips and frowned. "If I were in your position, I would've been joyed to have someone to keep me company."

As if Cole hadn't heard Jay's comment, Cole stood up and brushed past Jay, pacing around the room. After a few minutes, Jay had thought he had finally calmed.

"So to be clear, you're my roommate for the next four years of my life?"

"Uh, yeah? Can't get any clearer than that. And for the record, I don't know your name yet, so what else can I call you aside from _buddy_?"

What felt like his new roommate ignoring him for the second time, Jay rolled his eyes. He looked around the room and found a picture frame sitting on the desk with a picture of a man who looked like his roommate's father just by resemblance. The man was holding a trophy with the words dance scrawled in the background.

"Ah, so you're a dancer then, _Twinkle Toes_?" Jay said with a smug grin on his cheery face.

Cole's face turned red from embarrassment and he snatched the picture, tossing it to the closet. "And please, don't call me _Twinkle Toes_ either."

"Well tell me your name then."

Cole's lips tightened and he looked at Jay glumly. He began to speak without enthusiasm, "My name is Cole, and welcome to your new room… Jay."

* * *

 **A/N I've already began writing a lot on this AU because I'm just so into it. So please, I hoped you enjoyed it and I'd appreciate all the reviews and constructive criticism is fine too.**

 **And a quick note that I'm a freshman in High School, well I will be this year. So I haven't even touched on college yet. I just thought an AU like this would be fun!**

 **As of now I'm using some sources for help like Monsters U and Pitch Perfect and the universities my cousins went to.**

 **So if anyone has ever been to college or has more knowledge then I do I would be grateful if I could ask for your help!**

 **Thanks for reading! - FropessionalWriter**


	2. Loathing

**Welp. Sorry for the seemingly short chapter. I promise the upcoming ones will be longer than this! And trust me they are, I've already typed up to chapter 6!**

* * *

Jay hated his new roommate.

Cole treated Jay as if he was just some visitor, not taking notice of him and only asking him small questions, as if he didn't want to start a conversation.

 _Yesterday_ , Cole had taken Jay outside the dorm room and they explored their building as other students were getting settled. But even as they walked, Cole never looked at Jay once and never spoke a single word to him unless otherwise.

 _Yesterday_ , after he had settled in, Cole had left the room to go look for someone. So Jay crawled onto Cole's side of the room and hopped onto his swivel chair. He put his feet up on Cole's desk and gazed up at the wall. There weren't very many posters as Jay had, but there were definitely a lot of books.

* * *

 _"My name is Cole, and welcome to your new room… Jay."_

 _At last Jay knew his name. That was one thing down. The next was to decorate his side of the room. He took a quick glance at his empty wall and saw a pile of books and bags on his soon to be bed. Jay frowned at them. When he turned back around he saw Cole munching on a granola bar._

 _"Hey, Cole? Could you move your stuff so I can decorate my side of the room?" He asked his new roommate._

 _Once Cole removed his things from the bed, Jay pulled over his bags and pulled out a poster. He jumped up on the bed to boost his height and reached up to put the pin the poster against the wall._

 _After he decorated his side, Jay reached into the bag and felt around, his eyes widened when the he couldn't find_ it _. Screaming internally, he stuffed his head into the duffel bag and gazed through everything inside of it. "It's not in here!"_

 _"What's not in there?"_

 _However, he didn't hear Cole's question and continued to search through his bags._

 _"Did you lose your ID card?"_

 _"No! It's right there next your book!" Jay had searched through all his bags and when he couldn't find what he was looking for, he fell backwards onto his bed. "Awwhhh nooo…" He covered his face with his hands and groaned._

 _Cole threw away his granola bar wrapper and kicked back in his swivel chair, looking at Jay with a brow raised._

 _"Hmm, yeah, well whatever."_

* * *

When Jay came into the room, he headed straight for his bed. Face planting into his pillow, Jay let out a long and annoying groan. The books under his arm falling to the floor. Cole, who was sitting at his desk again, doodling, threw another book at Jay to get him to shut up.

"Ow! You really got to stop throwing books! You know that?" Jay told him once his face was out of the pillows.

"Yeah? Well you need to find a hobby."

"Uh, may I remind you I just got here like a day ago? I'm trying to get used to this place."

"Hah, and didn't you know I arrived here the same day you did? Just earlier?"

Jay held his tongue and folded his arms, turning his back on Cole. Just then, he had a thought about clubs, and decided to ask Cole. "Hey, Cole?" He turned around to see that Cole had already continued on drawing.

"What do you want, _motormouth_?"

Jay's muscles tensed and he repeated that name over and over in his head. Was that a nickname? An insult? "Er, what did you just say?"

Cole swiveled around in his chair and looked at Jay with dead eyes. "Like it? I came up with it yesterday when I realized how much you like to blab." He smirked at Jay.

"Well then…" Jay looked around the room for more clues to come up with another nickname for Cole. One that could surely tap his nerves. He saw a camera, a potted plant? Maybe he enjoyed nature? He noticed Cole looking at him like he was a weirdo. Jay hesitated and tried to come up with something on spot.

" _D-dirtclod_!"

" _Dirtclod_? How'd you come up with that?"

"W-well you obviously like nature right?"

Cole growled. "Then how about…" He noticed Jay's bright blue eyes which sparked with energy, giving Cole the idea of lighting. And lightning was quick, and so was Jay when it came to blabbering. " _Zaptrap_!"

Jay fumed with anger.

"I'm not that talkative!"

"Oh, really? I can tell you that yesterday while you were explaining to me about your so called hero Ritz Fonnegen or whatever -"

"It's _Fritz Donnegan_!"

"Well whatever, while you were going on about him, I completely zoned out! That's how annoying you and your high pitched voice are!"

Placing a hand over his chest and leaning back for dramatic effect, Jay gasped. "How dare you say that about my voice! It is not that high!"

Cole rolled his eyes and pointed a finger at Jay. "It's so high that I'm sure even the birds outside went deaf, _Zap-trap_!"

"Why are you so angry at me? I seriously just got here and so did you!"

"I guess your just more annoying then I thought. Not only do you talk a lot, but you're constantly talking about video games and reading comics! I bet you haven't even read a single _real_ book!"

"G-doh! You take that back! I have a read a _real_ book… I just never finished it. Except this one back in 9th grade! It was surprisingly really good, I bet you haven't read it - but that's not the point!"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Guess that just shows I'm more smarter than you!"

"Grr, I am smart!" Jay bit his cheek.

"Are you very sure about that, Zaptrap?"

"Stupid!"

"Jerk!"

"Blockhead!"

"Moron!"

They glared at each other with hard stares, which eventually turned into a staring competition. He'd never had anyone in his life hate him this much before.

The longer they stared, the more Jay began to wonder why they were fighting in the first place. If Cole didn't like him didn't mean he didn't have to not like him back.

 _This is strange. I didn't come here to make enemies, I came here to make friends… And we'll, get a college degree too obviously._ Jay's thoughts continued and it was the only thing Jay was paying attention too at that moment, making him unaware that he was even in a staring contest.

 _Maybe I could just purposely lose and then try to get on Cole's good side._ Jay watched as Cole's face strained to keep his eyes open. He laughed internally and scratched the back of his neck.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, causing both teens to blink, ending the staring contest.

The two of them rubbed their eyes and fixed their attention to the door.

* * *

 **You know what song would fit well in this chapter? Well, would fit Cole at least. I dunno if anyone noticed but the title kinda gives it away. _What is This Feeling?_ From _Wicked_. Ahaha! Let's admit, his hatred for Jay _did_ come on quite fast. XD**

 **About the nicknames, you know I can't help it! I love those nicknames and never thing think they should change. So there ya have it, folks!**

 **Comments are appreciated ^^**


	3. Club Sign-ups

**Ok, I guess this wasn't that much longer then the previous chapter. But don't worry it'll get longer! Gradually heh. And in case no one noticed, I will be updating this story EVERY Thursday!**

* * *

The door swung opened with a loud thud when it hit the wall. "Club sign ups today!" A male teen with stuck up brown hair and classy glasses shouted at them.

Cole and Jay both stood up, and rushed towards the door.

The other teen had already taken off, making his way downstairs. As they ran, Jay looked to Cole. "Hey, uh, Cole…"

"Yeah?" The teen seemed more calm.

Smiling at the quick change in attitude, Jay asked, "Who was that? I saw him when I was registering but never caught his name."

"That's Griffin Turner, he's a junior here," Cole answered him, walking down the stairs swiftly, with Jay trailing behind him.

Once they made it onto the main campus, Cole started to take off without Jay.

"Wait! Cole!" Jay cried out and caught up with him. "I thought you were a freshman like me? Do you even know where you're going?"

"Yeah, I'm going to sign up for some clubs. What else?"

"But…"

Cole halted to a stop and looked at Jay. "But what? You wondering how I'm 'smarter' at this then you?"

"Uh… Yes?"

"I got a tour from Griffin when I got here," he told Jay as they started walking again. "Didn't you join a tour group before coming into the room?"

"I think I did… I probably wasn't paying attention."

"Well, good luck finding your way around the school then," Cole said as he waved Jay off.

Jay stared into the large group of students. They were everywhere, and Jay didn't know where to go first. Should he just walk through? People were sure to try and get him to sign up in their clubs, but Jay wasn't good with getting out of situations like that.

"Yeah, right. Like he'd actually lea-" He looked back to where Cole was standing before. Only problem was, he wasn't there. "Ugh! Why does that guy hate me so much?" He said through tight teeth and slowly began walking into the crowd.

He needed to find Cole, he was the only person Jay actually knew aside from seeing a blur of the junior, Griffin. Man that guy was fast, it felt as if he wasn't even at the dorm door for even a second.

"Join the Fencing Club! You might not get it at first, but you'll eventually get the point!"

"Have a problem you can't solve? Well then join the Math Club!"

"Come join the Guitar Club!"

"Aw, come on Jacob! Where's the _pun_ in that?"

"Want to feel part of a community? We do volunteering work every weekend! Come join!"

Jay tried to ignore all their invites, though some of the clubs he passed by sounded fun. But, no. He wasn't going to sign up for anything until he found Cole.

"Cole?" He shouted into the crowd, pushing through people. "Dirtclod?" Jay sighed to himself when calling out the insulting nickname didn't do anything.

He thought it would catch Cole's attention. It could've even been embarrassing for him, but apparently not.

Until a hand grabbed his shoulder, causing Jay to flinch. He yelped when he was flipped around to face the person who had just randomly grabbed him. Jay squeaked one last time when he met Cole's angry eyes.

"Don't ever shout that name in public? Got it?"

Swallowing, Jay nodded slowly with a quirky smile.

* * *

"Want to join the book club?"

Jay turned his head the source of the voice. He noticed a girl with short black hair and soft brown eyes, holding a pile of flyers. She was talking to someone else who was dressed in mostly all white, and had blond hair that seemed to stick up naturally.

Jay tugged on Cole's shirt.

"Gah, what is it, Jay?" He looked to the shorter male and followed where Jay's finger pointed.

"You want to join the book club?" Jay asked him.

Considering his love of books, Cole shrugged. "Hm, I guess so."

With that, Jay pulled Cole over to the stall where the girl had still been talking. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

 _She's so gorgeous… and her eyes are so pretty… heh, I can't stop staring, hopefully no one's looking. Oh and even her voice is amazing… well from what I can hear. I have to -_

"Hey Jay… earth to Jay..." Cole said, snapping his fingers in front of his roommate. Had he really been away from reality for that long? He saw that Cole was holding a clipboard and a pencil, looking at Jay oddly.

"Did you sign yet?" Jay asked.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

Jay grabbed the board from Cole and quickly scribbled his name underneath Cole's. Once he was finished, he grabbed Cole's wrist and began pulling him far away from the booth.

Cole put down his foot and pulled his arm away from Jay. "Want to explain to me why the rush? And why did you sign up? Now I'm stuck in not zero, but one club with you! You don't even like reading!"

Jay processed Cole's words then instantly began freaking out. "Oh my gosh! Why did I join the book club?! I'm so stupid!"

"Yeah, you are," Cole snickered softly.

"It takes me forever to finish one whole book!" Jay continued, "You gotta help me! I just wanted to see her-"

"What?"

Jay stopped pacing and glared at Cole. "You didn't hear that did you?"

"Her? You mean the girl who was in charge of the club?" Jay nodded slowly. "Jay, that girl you apparently like is Nya. She's Kai's sister, and from what Lloyd told me-"

"Lloyd?"

"He was in my little tour group, anyways, Kai can be a huge jerk. He's a slacker, a social media guy, and a hothead. Why are you interested in someone who's sibling to a jerk like him?"

Jay put his hands on his hips and put a foot forward. "Well excuse me for not knowing that earlier! I've never met Lloyd!"

"Hello!"

Startled, Cole and Jay both flailed their arms as reflex and hit each other in the stomach. "Oh, uh, it's… You…" Jay said, his voice trailing off as he rubbed his stomach.

"I saw you two at the book club booth. My name is Zane," they took turns shaking hands with him. "What are your names?"

"I'm Jay and this is Cole!"

At first Cole was a little bummed when he didn't get to introduce himself, but seeing how happy Jay was somehow made him not care at all.

"Are you two friends?" Zane asked them.

Being Jay, he stepped in front and opened his mouth to answer, but Cole pushed him back.

"Oh, we're just roommates," Cole said in reply.

Hearing those words, Jay's stomach dropped and his bright smile had instantly faded away, in replace with a frown.

Zane slightly frowned at his answer. "Oh, my apologies then. I shall see you two around," he said with a smile and walked away.

Jay watched sadly as Zane continued to walk.

Once again, Cole began heading back without Jay.

* * *

 **You got that right! I added a book club. Pretty simple but I like the idea. I have a few ideas already of what would happen if there was a book club!**

 **Reviews are appreciated ^^**


	4. Problems

**Okay, yay! The chapter itself is 2,000 words! I'm so happy! Thanks for all your reviews by the way! I love reading your thoughts on this, and haha I saw quite a few comments on the last chapter about Cole being a jerk to Jay. He softens up a bit in this chapter :)**

 **Enough talking more reading!**

* * *

Back in the dorm room, Jay sat on his bed leaning against the wall, with a blanket draped over him. He was on his phone, scrolling through all his texts that he had received from his parents.

The entire walk back since they met Zane, Cole had remained quiet. He wondered what Cole could have been thinking about after he had told Zane they were just roommates. Maybe he really did hate Jay with all his guts.

Jay rested his head on his knees and stared at the screen.

The door opened and Jay's head perked up when he smelled the sweet scented aroma. He poked his head out from under the cover and watched as Cole set two bowls of ramen noodles on his desk. Cole pulled over a second chair and waved Jay over.

"Whatcha doing under the covers?"

Setting his phone down on the side, Jay picked up a spoon and stirred it around in his soup. He had asked Cole earlier during the day if he could have his dinner back in the dorm. He didn't feel comfortable yet with his new environment and barely even knew Zane.

"Just checking on my parents." Jay lifted the spoon to his lips and blew on it gently, then stuck it in his mouth, melting when he tasted how good it was. "Did you make this?"

"No, stupid. I bought them a while ago and kept them in the fridge. I just went out to heat it up."

"Oh." _So technically then Cole paid for my food. That's the last thing I'd expect._

Cole took in another spoon of the soup.

Silence filled the air and Jay couldn't stop thinking about yesterday. He wanted to ask Cole about it, but he didn't have the courage to bring it up.

"Anything on your mind lately?" He heard Cole ask.

Jay's muscles tensed and he dropped the spoon. "Uh, uh no… N-not at all… Heh why do you ask?" _Why do you even care?_

"Are you sure? You look like it."

Jay didn't say a word. _Why is he acting all sympathetic towards me now?_

"Jay…" he paused for a brief moment, Jay holding his breath. But when Cole didn't say anything else, Jay scooted backwards, putting his hand over his stomach.

"You know what, I _am_ stuffed… thanks for the meal, Cole," Jay said offering him a smile but Cole didn't smile back.

Instead, Cole looked at him with concern.

After dinner, Cole went out to put the dishes away while Jay changed into his pajamas. Unfortunately he had brought a pair of his old fuzzy bunny slippers. He hoped Cole wouldn't notice.

A few minutes later, the door creaked open and Jay jumped onto bed, but was too late to hide the slippers.

"Are those yours?" Cole asked him, holding in laughter.

"Maybe…" Jay said as he scratched the back of his neck, face red from embarrassment.

"Cute."

He was definitely surprised by Cole's reaction. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jay collapsed, his head landing softly on the pillow. Just as he was about to call it a day, he heard the drawer open from Cole's side of the room. Sitting up, Jay blinked stubbornly as he stared at Cole, who was holding a shirt and nighttime pants.

"You're changing? Oh jeez I forgot." Jay sat there finding himself in what he considered to be an awkward situation.

"Hey, there isn't another room in here to change in, you're just going to have to deal with it." Cole took off his sweater and tossed it to the side. Next, he removed his shirt and reached over for his bed shirt. He wasn't sure if Jay had moved under the covers or something but he didn't care.

Turning around, Cole saw Jay just lying on the bed staring dead at the ceiling. "Come on, Jay, haven't you been in a locker room before?"

"I won't say anything else until you put a shirt on."

"Alright then," Cole slipped into his fresh shirt and changed out of his pants.

Jay threw the pillow over his face and lay with his arms flat out.

"Seriously?" The dark-haired teen closed the drawer and shook his head when he saw Jay.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

Jay sat up once again on the bed relieved that Cole was done. "May I ask then how you managed to cope with me changing yesterday?"

"I didn't even know you changed yesterday. I was asleep."

Shrugging, Cole hopped onto his bed and got comfy under the covers.

"You're not going to bed right now, are you?" The ginger haired teen asked.

"No." Cole looked to Jay and reached over to his desk, pulling another book to him. Jay prepared himself for the book to be thrown at him. He shut his eyes and lifted his hands to shield his face, but when he never felt the hit, he lowered his arms and looked across the room.

Cole was sitting in bed, reading his book.

"You like reading don't you?"

"Yeah, and you like talking."

"Come on, you barely talked to me for the first couple days."

"Blah blah blah blah blah. There I talked to you. Conversation is now over."

"Really?"

The book flew towards his head. Jay's eyes widened and he ducked, letting the book pass overhead.

Cole swung his feet over the side of the bed and he glared at Jay, clearly already bored of the conversation. "What do you _want_ me to tell you?"

"Well, let's start by sharing our hobbies. Sound fun?"

"No, it doesn't."

Jay was getting frustrated. During dinner Cole was acting so sympathetic, but as of now he was just being annoying. Suddenly, his phone buzzed and he quickly reached over the edge, directing his eyes to the screen.

"Your parents?" Cole asked him.

With a quick nod, Jay skimmed over his new messages as the phone continued to buzz.

 _Still missing you already, son! Oh, and guess what? Your mom found your old teddy bear! Mr. Fuzzy Pants :D_

 _We decided to have your favorite for dinner last night. Hope you come to visit us soon, and make sure to bring a friend_

 _… … …_

 _Oh or a girl ;)_

Seeing that they found his old stuffed animal made Jay snicker a bit. He'd been looking for that the first day he arrived.

The laughing coming from Jay caused Cole to direct his attention to his roommate. He walked over to Jay's bed and picked up his book, then leaned in to see what he was laughing about.

"Mr. Fuzzy Pants?" Cole scoffed and pulled Jay's phone away from him. He began scrolling through the message threads.

"Hey! Give that back, _Dirtclod_!" Jay jumped on his bed and reached his arms over Cole's shoulders to attempt at taking his phone back. Despite the fact that he was shorter than Cole, standing on his bed gave him an advantage.

"Hold on a minute, Jay!" Cole whirled around and kept his eyes on the screen, his fingers typing on the digital keyboard. Jay pouted and sat down, waiting patiently for Cole to give his phone back. After two minutes, Cole handed the blue phone back to Jay.

Jay went straight through checking his email and messages, hoping Cole didn't mess with anything. When he couldn't find anything different, he threw a pillow at Cole's face.

"What did you do?!"

"Check your contacts."

He opened his contacts and saw that there was a C group. That was never there before. Under the bold C was the name Cole. Jay arched a brow and looked up from his phone at his roommate.

When he opened Cole's contact it read:

 _Cole_

And under nicknames it read:

 _Dirtclod_

"Why? You don't like me."

"Yeah, but I just thought it might come in handy," he told Jay with a half smile.

Cole turned off the lights and dropped into bed, closing his eyes.

Jay, however, was still scrolling through his phone in a sitting position. Day two is finally over, he thought with relief. The blue eyed male slowly leaned into bed and as he turned off his phone, he remembered Cole's contact, and whispered quietly enough so Cole couldn't hear.

" _Thanks…"_

* * *

He'd never eaten from a college cafeteria before. The one thing he wondered was whether the food tasted good. He noticed Cole had also bought a meal at the cafeteria.

They took a seat by the cafeteria doors. Jay took a seat across from Cole.

"Do you think we could try one of those little restaurants next time?"

"You mean the ones sort of off campus?"

Jay nodded and brought the sandwich up to his lips.

He had made sure to find Cole everyday before lunch. When he saw his roommate hanging out by the cafeteria doors, Jay ran straight for him, all of the sudden joyed that he wasn't going to sit all alone like a loser.

"Jay! Cole!"

Jay turned around so that he could see whoever was calling their names. It sounded like…

"Zane!" Cole shouted with a proud wave. He motioned for Zane to take a seat next to him.

"Luck we all decided to have lunch at the same time huh?" Cole gave Zane a friendly wink.

Jay rolled his eyes. _Yeah right. I just didn't want to look like a loser. Heh, me a loser? That'd be horrible for my reputation… er would it? I don't think I have a reputation here. Ha ha._

Zane ate his lunch quietly, as he watched Jay staring straight through Zane like he wasn't even there. He wanted to ask Cole if Jay did this often, but he wasn't here right now. While Jay was zoning out, Cole stood up to go use the restroom, leaving Zane and Jay alone at the table.

"... Ya know that would be great though," Jay mumbled, clear enough for Zane to understand.

"What would be great?"

Startled, Jay leaned backwards and the chair toppled over. "Are you okay? I did not mean to shock you," Zane told him as he walked on over to the other side and helped Jay up.

As Jay sat back down, he flashed Zane a toothy grin and rubbed his forehead. "Oh yeah, I'm fine, eh - where's Cole?"

Zane looked to his left where Cole would be sitting. "Oh, right, he left to go use the restroom."

Jay took a large bite out of his sandwich, looking unimpressed.

"Oh well," Jay muttered as he chewed.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! So Zane, what other clubs did you sign up for?"

"I signed up for the Book Club, and Community Service Club. How about you?"

"Well, hah, as you know, I joined the Book Club and the Gaming Club! _And so did Cole_."

"What was that last part? You said it really low, I couldn't hear -"

"Eh, it was nothing, Zane!" He picked up a cracker and offered it to his blonde friend. "Cracker?"

"No thank you, but I appreciate your offer," Zane said with a proud beam. Jay shrugged and stuffed the cracker into his mouth, then tossed in a few Skittles.

Jay ate the rest of his meal with delight. _Mm, taste the rainbow!_

Finally, Cole came back and took his seat, a refreshing look on his face. Jay glared at him with fire in his eyes.

Cole then started to have a conversation with Zane, turning to his side to talk to the freshman. But what irritated Jay the most was that Cole would check from the corner of his eye to see what Jay was doing.

Eating the rest of his food in his current mood, Jay continued to glare daggers at Cole.

 _Oh ha ha, big guy. Acting so nice around everyone else but me. Just you wait, I have a plan..._

* * *

 **Taste the rainbow! Skittles :3 And don't worry you'll see more of Zane later. I'd say around chapter 7. Also, if you don't mind, could you guys take the poll I put on my profile? If you haven't yet, that is.**

 **And, no, Cole did not sign up for Gaming, if you remember the last chapter he said he only had one club with Jay. Yeah, gaming club XD what a name. I'm trying. Still getting used to this college thing :3**

 **Reviews are appreciated ^^**


	5. Butter Up

**WARNING : Jay gets a little emotional towards the very end. In other words, I added some fluff. :3 not that I couldn't help myself, but it fits this chapter. You have been warned!**

* * *

After biology, Jay waited outside in the hallway by the door. He remembered Cole had told him Lloyd was the one who mentioned to Cole about Kai. Curious to find out more about Kai, Jay decided to ask him himself since he noticed Lloyd was taking the same class as he was in the afternoon.

Seeing as the male teen walked outside the classroom just then, Jay pushed himself off the wall and waved at Lloyd.

"Hey!"

Lloyd turned around to see a face he was unfamiliar with.

"Hey..." Lloyd greeted with a smile.

Jay smiled in return "Uh, how's it going?" _This feels a little awkward_ … Jay thought, _talking with Cole wasn't so bad… so this shouldn't be any different._

"Heh, fine I guess…"

Jay bit his lower lip thinking about how to continue the conversation. "Uh, you're Lloyd, right? Cole told me about you. I'm Jay."

"You know Cole? He seems pretty cool," Lloyd replied with a nod.

 _Well then the three of us should hang together sometime_ , Jay thought sarcastically. He shook his head and looked back at Lloyd, forgetting he was standing there. Clearing his throat, Jay began, "Well, I was actually wondering something..."

"Sure, what is it?"

Scratching the back of his neck, Jay lifted his shoulders. "You're sort of a newbie here too right?" Lloyd nodded his head in response. "Well then how do you know about Kai?"

"Oh, hah! Did you see him around lately?"

"Er, no, but Cole told me that you told him about Kai. You said he was a big jerk and something else… I think… how do you know that if you're new?"

Lloyd reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, swiping through his photos. Pulling up a certain photo, Lloyd stuffed it in Jay's face.

"He and I were best friends since grade school. But, he's no jerk. Well, not as big of a jerk as he was back then."

"Well then why did you tell Cole that?"

Lloyd stared at Jay in question. "He was probably referring to you. Since ya know, some roommates don't always get along at first. Though, I don't even know if you two actually get along or not."

While Lloyd talked, Jay mouthed the word 'ouch' and tried to forget what Lloyd had said.

Jay squinted at the photo. He could make out Lloyd standing next to another person, who was supposedly Kai.

And this, Kai, was very different than he expected him to be. He had dark brown hair that stood up in spikes, shooting all over the place. His hazel eyes matched his fairly dark complexion. And… by the looks of it, his favorite color appeared to be red. However, he looked nothing like his sister.

"Is that a scar?" Jay asked when he noticed the odd line by one of Kai's eyes.

"Huh?" Lloyd took a quick glance at the picture and stuffed away his phone. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. Yeah, you got it right. Some accident happened when he was a kid. He never gave me the full details. Though he doesn't like many people asking him about it."

Jay heaved his books under his arm and looked to Lloyd. "Hey, ya know we should start walking."

Lloyd laughed. "You're right, let's go!"

"So how's college so far for you?"

College. What did he think about it so far anyways? Well, there was lots of work, professors yapped a lot, he found a girl he really liked, and then there was Cole. Jay frowned at that thought.

"Great," he lied.

"Heh, that's great for you. My roommate barely even talks to me."

Jay was quite surprised when he heard that. "Really?"

"Yeah, he's really quiet and is usually in his own world."

 _Is he talking about Zane_? Zane was really friendly to them just yesterday. "Lemme guess, is his name Zane?"

As if he'd just seen a ghost, Lloyd stopped dead in his tracks and gave Jay a shocking look. "How'd you know?"

"Cole and I met him yesterday during club sign-ups."

"Are you two roommates? You've been mentioning his name a few times lately."

Putting a hand to his face, Jay groaned. That was the last thing he wanted to talk about. "Er, yeah…"

"Lucky! I wish I was roommates with him!"

 _Yeah, I wish too. I could've switched when I knew it wasn't going to work out. Agh, stupid me why didn't I? Maybe I was just hoping we'd work it out somehow. Saaaay, Cole didn't try and request a change. Hmmm…_

Lloyd was clapping his hands in front of Jay's face. "Jay!"

"Huh?!" Jay caught Lloyd looking at him funny. _Had I just zone out again?_ _If I did that in class…_ "Oh, sorry Lloyd…"

"It's fine. Being roommates with Cole must be fun, huh? What does he do with you? Do you guys pull pranks or anything?" Boy the kid sure looked up to Cole.

"Well, Lloyd, he may have been _Mr. Cool Guy_ too you, but Cole and I don't really get along. Just like what you said before."

"That's a total bummer. Although I can kinda see why..."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Jay said with a wink and they both laughed. "But you know, I actually have a plan for getting Cole to like me. And tomorrow is the day…"

* * *

 **The next day**

Cole opened the door to the cafeteria.

Running after him, Jay yanked down on Cole's bag, close to falling over.

"What the heck?" The older teenager fixed his strap over his shoulder and turned around to see Jay leaning casually against the metal pole. "What do you want?"

"Come on, let's eat at one of those food joints "off campus"!" Jay told him.

Cole shrugged and started out the door, Jay walking beside him. "Let's have pizza!" Jay piped and looked to Cole, who kept a straight face.

The blue eyed teenager tried smiling, but once again, Cole didn't smile back. Just give up, Jay. He clearly doesn't want anything to do with you. A voice said in his head. Jay just wanted to slap it in the face (if it had one) and tell it to shut up. He clung to a strap over his side and gaze down at the ground as they walked.

It was quiet.

The silence was freaking him out. _Break the ice, break the ice,_ he repeated in his mind.

"So, I met Lloyd earlier today..." Jay began.

"That's nice."

 _And there goes our conversation. Short and_ not _sweet_. This was just like Cole when he first arrived. Barely even having a full discussion. "He showed me a picture of Kai." Jay bit his lower lip, awaiting a reply.

"Really? Does he look like a jerk?"

Jay laughed. "No, but he does look like a hot-headed person."

"Ah, I see. I've never met Kai before. Never even seen him once."

Jay beamed, Cole was actually having a real conversation with him. "Oh, and you remember Zane?" Cole nodded. "Apparently he's Lloyd's roommate!"

"Heh, wonder how Lloyd feels about that. Zane's cool and all but he can be pretty… interesting."

"Yeah, I remember."

Surprisingly the whole way to _Buddy's Pizza_ , they were talking back and forth with each other nonstop. Inside the small restaurant, Jay picked up one of the to-go menus and skimmed over it. He put it in between the two of them to share.

"I'm just going to have a regular pepperoni pizza. You?" Cole asked.

Jay pursed his lips, moving his finger up and down the menu. "Meat-lover pizza!" He ran to put it back and saw Cole setting his bag down at a table. The black-haired teen started walking towards the counter with his student ID card. Stepping in front of Cole, Jay plucked the card from Cole's hand and shook his head.

"It's on me!" he said with a grin. Wide eyed, Cole took his card back, looking down on Jay.

"You don't have to do that."

"Ah ba bup!" If Cole could pay for Jay's food, so could he. Jay turned around and began ordering their meals.

Cole always knew Jay was optimistic and kind, but Jay knew that he didn't like him. So why was he paying for his lunch? He took a seat at the table and waited for Jay to come back with the pizzas.

To pass time, Cole pulled out his phone, but to his surprise there were already a few notifications. One of them was a message from some number he didn't recognize. It read:

 _Gotcha now, Dirtclod!_

Cole chuckled and he instantly added it to his contacts.

When the pizza arrived, he didn't begin eating right away. Instead, Cole sat and continued to check his other notifications.

"How's the pizza?" Cole asked him.

Jay swallowed the food and put a thumbs up in Cole's face. "It's great! You should start eating yours now."

Cole shrugged and put down his phone, lifting the pizza to his lips.

"By the way," Jay began, "If you're wondering, that pizza was 5 bucks."

* * *

Luckily, for Jay, he had at least two classes with Cole. Giving him more chances to butter Cole up. One of them was -

Sociology.

And to add on to that, he sat right next to Cole. Usually during lessons and lectures, Jay would make jokes in his paper and annoy Cole with them.

Unfortunately, that meant Jay didn't take notes. He didn't think he'd need them, but he insisted on having them anyways. So, late at night whenever Cole was asleep, he would sneak Cole's notebook over to his desk and copy his notes.

He felt guilty, but he was desperate. He thought back to yesterday...

 _"Hey, Cole," Jay whispered to his roommate._

 _Cole glanced over at Jay, "Jaay, be quiet would you?"_

 _"Aye, sorry! I'm just getting really bored. I'm starting to wonder why I even chose this class."_

 _Rolling his eyes, Cole focused his attention back to the teacher up front, ignoring Jay._

 _"Cole! Look! I drew a bird!"_

 _The black-haired teen gritted his teeth. He let a minute fly by until Jay spoke again._

 _"Check this out! It's a picture of the entire class infected by a zombie virus!"_

 _2 minutes._

 _"Cole, I drew you just now. You look really focused, mind if I change that on the picture to a bored face?"_

 _3 minutes._

 _"Ugggh, how much longer is class?"_

 _5 minutes._

 _"Co-"_

 _"Listen, Zaptrap! I don't care if you're bored, but I am trying to learn something! So as of now, if you continue to annoy me, I will continue to annoy you."_

 _"Fine! Have it your way!" Jay flipped to a blank page in his notebook and began jotting something down._

 _Not caring, Cole looked away from Jay and resumed listening to the instructor, while taking notes._

This time, however, Jay sat perfectly quiet. He didn't even think of trying to get Cole's attention.

And this time, he took notes. No matter how painful his hand began to hurt.

* * *

"Check it out! Lloyd gave me a mini disco ball!" Jay cheered as he held up the disco ball in Cole's unamused face. "Come on, Cole! It spiiins!"

"Yeah, I think that's pretty obvious."

The older male was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall with his knees propped up. He had with him a pencil and notebook up against his legs.

Cole chewed on the end of his pencil. Jay had been quiet during class today. He was never that quiet and still unless something was wrong. The ginger haired even did Cole unnecessary favors.

Suddenly, Jay let out an ear splitting groan. "Ok, then, might as well give you this now."

"Give me what?"

The younger teen reached into his bag and pulled out a dusty, old, beat up paperback. He gave it to Cole. "A book?" Cole set his notebook and pencil to the side.

"It's that book I told you I liked. The one I actually finished."

To his own surprise, he realized he never actually read the book before. Cole gazed over the cover and flipped through the pages. Most of them were crinkled and torn on the edges, but things like that didn't stop Cole from reading it. He put it down on his lap, stroking over the cover.

"You like it? It's my copy, I wanted you to have it."

Cole stared at the book for a brief moment.

"I thought that after you finished reading it… We could talk about it. Since, ya know it's the only real book I've actually read…."

He hoped for Cole to say something, but instead, the older teen just sat there, staring at Jay's feet without saying a word.

Finally, he released a sad sounding sigh and stood up, walking over to his dresser. "Well, it's been an unusual day... I'm gonna go change. Go ahead and look away if you want, kay?" He opened the drawer and pulled out his pjs.

Jay's smile dropped and he gazed down at the floor. It was fine, he told himself, maybe he just needed to wait a little longer and Cole would… Would… What did Jay want? Did he want Cole to see him as something other than a bother? Or did he want Cole to see him as... a friend?

He watched in sorrow as Cole pulled off his shirt and threw on his night time shirt.

His eyes averted back to his book sitting on Cole's bed. It reminded him of all the things he had to do to get this far, just to earn Cole's trust.

His face burned and he clenched his fists.

Jay marched up to Cole swiftly and gripped his shoulders firmly, turning the teenager around. "Woah, what?!" Cole let out a breath as his back slammed against the drawers. "Jay, what the heck are you doing?"

"What am I doing? … What am _I_ doing?" He gritted his teeth together, his eyes shooting daggers at Cole.

"Jaaay, keep your voice down!"

"I tried… I tried this entire day just to… Just to make you happy! Just wanting you to see me as a friend, to see me as something else other than an annoying brat! But noooo you don't seem to care! Well you know what-?" Jay bit his lower lip as it trembled and his grip on Cole began to loosen.

Cole stared at Jay, his mouth hanging wide open. "Um... Jay?"

Jay's eyes closed and Cole thought he had passed out, but instead a single stream of water escaped his right eye. Cole was shocked. Jay let go and fell to the ground, sitting there as he stared at the floor.

"I just wanted you to like me…"

Cole got down on his knees so that he could see Jay eye level. They both sat quiet for a while, both of them speechless. Finally, Jay licked his lips from them feeling dry, and he spoke, his voice lower than usual, and shaky.

"Sorry, heh, I overreacted a bit." He tried to smile as he wiped the tears from his face.

To Jay's surprise, Cole shook his head. "No, _I'm_ sorry. I'm sorry I didn't take your feelings into account. I should've been a better roommate. I should've been a friend. _You're_ friend. And you know what?" Cole strided over to his bed and reached for the book.

"I can't wait to read this." Cole smiled at Jay.

"But just remember," Cole started, when Jay thought it was finally all over, "I still hate you just a _teeny_ bit."

Instead of tears, Jay laughed.

He could live with that.

* * *

 **Wow! This is probably the longest chapter I've typed up so far! Over 2,000 words (almost 3,000!). Most of my chapters don't exceed 2,000 words unless I get super into it. And believe me, I did get quite into this chapter. I had an alternate version for this chapter too where the ending was pretty calm and stuff, I'll probably post it as a bonus when the story is finished.**

 **Also, just another reminder, I have a poll up on my profile. It's about your favorite ships, and to be honest I thought Jaya would be winning, buuuut, no. It's Bruise. Please vote! So I know what you guys like to see.**

 **Reviews are appreciated ^^**


	6. Boy Meets Girl

**Finally I can put this chapter up! Had a few things I needed to get out of the way first.**

 **Few notes: in this AU, AND THIS AU ONLY, is Nya older than Kai. Also, I will mention this again at the end, but check out an amazing FanFiction by Hawk03! It's called In a Samurai X's Cave!**

 **One other thing, thank you all for your reviews! At first I found it a little hard since I was starting writing on a different account. But reading your reviews tells me I'm doing a great job - Blargh, no more blabbering. Now... The chapter awaits you!**

* * *

As Jay exited the class, he caught note of the professor saying something, but all he could hear were the voices of the students around him. This place was too big, and if he wanted to survive his first year, he had to make friends. He hadn't made any other new friends other than Zane, Lloyd, and Cole.

He couldn't stop thinking about yesterday though. The memory was stuck in his head, and he hoped it would go away soon. He hadn't cried for what felt like forever, until yesterday. He felt rather embarrassed for breaking down in front of someone who didn't like him very much.

However, when he realized how shocked Cole was to see his efforts, it made Jay feel a little better.

He approached a blind corner. Jay sighed to himself, he hated corners. You never knew who or what was around the edge. Making a turn he let out a sigh of relief when he didn't hit anything.

Closing his eyes and laughing he continued to walk.

Until he finally bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch it!" Jay scoffed as he stumbled backwards. Standing up straight, he saw the stranger with his head down to his phone. Jay gave a sudden gasp. "Uh, uh."

It was Kai.

"You watch it yourself buddy, you're not blind are you?"

Jay put his hands on his hip and frowned at the brown haired teen. _Time to toughen up._ "Pfh, me? What about you? It's not safe to walk while texting. In fact, it's not safe to walk while doing anything _other than_ walking!"

"For your information, I wasn't texting, doofus. I was updating my status, my followers have needs too ya know?"

Jay rolled his eyes. _He really does live on social media, not that being social is a bad thing._ "Either way, just be aware of your surroundings, _Kai_."

"Whatever. Who are you anyways? I don't think I've ever seen you around before." Kai stuffed his phone into his pocket and folded his arms across his chest, gazing over Jay. His head perked up and he eyed Jay suspiciously.

"And how do you know my name?"

Smirking, Jay tapped the side of his head with his pointed finger. "I'm psychic, ya know?" All Kai did in return was roll his eyes, as he earned a laugh from Jay. "I'm Jay, Lloyd told me a bit about you." He caught a glimpse of Kai's phone, and his nose sniffled. "How many followers ya got?"

"Quite a lot actually. I have a part time job at this cafe by _Buddy's Pizza_."

"So you're just giving away your user to people you don't know?"

"Not exactly. I'm not that dumb." Kai's lips tightened. "I follow some people from middle and high school too. I was considered, heh, _popular_ , back then," he said with a smirk, and a twinkle in his eyes.

Hearing the word popular caused Jay to stiffen. Cliques. One thing he didn't like when he was younger. Everyone always looked up to the "popular" kids, it wasn't fair. Luckily for him, all of that didn't exist in college. People only came for the education. Right?

"You were… Popular?" Jay covered his mouth quickly after hearing himself. He didn't mean to say that.

"No duh! You know, I was actually thinking of joining one of the fraternities here."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because of the stuff they do. I like being looked up to and all, but if joining the group I want to join means having inappropriate parties, alcohol, and other stuff like that, then no way."

Jay stood silent. "... Not _all_ fraternities do that..."

The auburn haired teen elbowed Jay with a playful wink. "I know, but those are the cool ones."

"Um..."

"Whelp, it was nice meeting ya," Kai said as he walked away from Jay, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

* * *

Opening the door to the library, Jay's jaw dropped in awe at the sight of all the books. Man, would Cole love this.

He clung tightly to his backpack as he stepped inside. He hadn't been to a library for a long long time. As Cole said when they were fighting, he never finished any actual books. All he ever did was read comics and play video games. But he wasn't going to ditch the book club. One, he wanted to see her again. Nya, the girl whom he saw back at club sign-ups. And two, he really did need to start reading again. Dumb textbooks weren't enough.

Jay marched up to the closest row of books and skimmed over their titles.

What he needed to get started was a fictional book. He loved fiction. Fantasy, adventure, mysteries. To be honest, every time he found a mystery book in grade school, all he did was look for the problem and skip to the very end to find out who was behind it all. But, Jay felt confident that's what some other people did too.

As Jay searched, he felt someone tap him on the back.

Jay slowly turned around and froze when he met the eyes of Nya… Whatever her last name was. He stared at her with an open smile, his head rushing.

 _Oh my gosh! It's her! It's her! It's her! What do I do? No, what do I say? She's staring at me funny. Am I doing something wrong? Don't panic Jay, just stay calm. You're into her so maybe she's into you too!_

"H-H-H-Hi," he stammered. Jay gulped and felt his face burning from nervousness.

"Hi!" She chirped softly, loud enough for Jay to hear. "You joined the book club right? I'm Nya, nice to meet you!" She held out her hand to shake.

Jay lifted his shaking hand and carefully gripped Nya's hand his mind screaming. _I held her hand! Well not really, but I still touched her hand! Don't screw this up Jay!_

He let go of Nya's hand. "Uh - I - book?" He croaked, then went back to a nervous smile after hearing himself. _You did it! You doomed yourself!_

Nya raised a brow and giggled. "What was that?"

Running his hand through his hair, Jay chuckled and cleared his throat. "Um, what I meant to say was, I'm Jay."

"Jay, hmm? Well, you must love reading then. You signed up for the book club and came to library. What else could that possibly mean?" Jay let out a breath when he gazed into her twinkling eyes.

"Y-yeah! I love reading! I read like, uh, 20 books before college started." _20 books?! That's insane!_ He laughed nervously before looking back at Nya.

"Wow! 20 books? That's impressive! I can't wait for the book club to get together once it starts! You're going to love everyone there!"

 _Ya, you're in the book club. And I'm already in love with you_. Jay slapped himself for thinking that. "So, are you a junior here?"

"Actually, I'm a sophomore. I'm a year older than my brother, Kai. He likes to act like a huge brat sometimes. Back in middle school, he had this wild crush on this girl, I don't exactly remember her name, but he always looked at her with dreamy eyes. Eventually his crush on her faded, but hey! We're in college now, there's more girls. And they're smart!"

Nya smiled at Jay. "Wanna go sit down?" She asked him. Jay nodded, willing to agree with any of her ideas.

It was surprising to hear that Nya was older than Kai. Nya looked a lot shorter than her brother. And there was something Jay couldn't help but notice, they had different color hair.

"So what kind of books do you like to read?" Nya asked him as they took a seat at a table by the windows.

"Er…" Jay held out the _r_ as if to stall time. He fiddled his fingers and searched the library for help. Just like what he did in the dorm. "Uh. Uh, fiction!" He said quickly.

Nya let out another one of her cute laughs. "What kind of fiction?"

"Mystery, adventure, romance, aaannndddd Sci-Fi!" _To be honest, I wasn't lying about the Sci-Fi part. I love me some good Fritz Donnegen! Although he's just a comic character._

"That's interesting," Nya said as she pulled out a notebook and pencil. She tore a piece of paper from the notebook and moved the notebook aside, grabbing her pencil. She began to jot a list down on the paper. "I'm writing you a list of some books you might like, _and_ I'm putting a star next to the ones we'll be reading in the club!"

When she finished, she handed Jay the paper and beamed. Jay looked over it, shocked at how long the list was. Next to every book title was a genre, and next to every genre was a plus or minus for the use of strong language. He next looked over the stars.

Four books.

"We might get through a little more than four books, but it's a start. Last year we finished five different books. One romance, one western themed, one Sci-Fi, another friendship, and one historical."

As Jay continued to look through the list, he noticed that one book he told Cole he had finished.

 _The Catcher in the Rye_

Jay couldn't help but smile.

"What is it?"

"Oh, well it's just, I _love_ 'The Catcher in the Rye'. It's my favorite book!"

"Well then, I'll make sure to remember to have that be our first book. Just for you!" She said with a spark of happiness in her eyes.

 _Could she like me too?_

* * *

 **Awww a little JAYA moment. Just a note that this AU will have mild Jaya. I'm not a huge Jaya fan, but I bet a lot of people are. So to avoid conflicts, I'm not putting a bunch of ships here and there in this AU. Though, I'll add some parts where you can squeeze your ship in there if you want. ;)**

 ** _The Catcher in the Rye_ , huh? If we're being honest, I think I actually have to read that book in high school. I bought it over the summer, so I'll get to reading that soon for help when I type chapters that have to do with the book!**

 **Also, don't forget to check out In Samurai X's Cave :3 I set up a link in my bio.**

 **Reviews are appreciated ^^**


	7. Eggheads

**I'll be honest with you, this chapter wasn't prepared for today XD. Though, forget about that, get reading!**

* * *

"Where is the book club supposed to meet?" Jay asked Cole as they walked the campus.

"I think it's in Borg Hall."

Cole held a notebook in his hands and was walking slightly ahead of Jay. Jay, however, was glad to see Cole was finally accepting life with him in it. He watched Cole as they walked, smiling since he knew the black-haired teen wasn't annoyed by his company. Well, most times he was, but other than that, Jay was feeling great.

As they approached Borg Hall, Jay fumbled with the strings of his blue coat, getting more nervous the closer they got. He was going to see Nya again.

"I can't wait to see Zane again!" Cole said with excitement. He reached for doors and allowed Jay to walk in first.

 _Oh man oh man oh man_. Jay chewed on the inside of his cheek as he stepped inside, taking a good look at the people around him.

He saw Zane coming forward to greet him and Cole. But there were two people he'd never seen before in the school.

One of them was a girl. She had scarlet hair, pulled up into a high ponytail. The color of her hair seemed to go well with the color scheme of her clothes. She wore a honey colored, full zipped sweatshirt, with a lighter orange shirt underneath it. Her pants, however, were just a simple pair of denim jeans.

The second face was of a guy. His hair was strange to Jay. It was a dark greyish color which was brushed back, and had a white streak coming down the middle. The teenager looked a lot older then him, but he did look friendly.

"Jay! Glad you could make it!"

Jay shook his head wildly and looked to his left, seeing Nya walking towards him with open arms. She stopped in front of him and clasped her hands together.

Cole, who had just finished chatting with Zane, left to stand next to Jay. "Hi! I'm Cole, you're Nya, right?"

"That's me! And welcome to the Book club! Heh, it ain't much yet, but once we get it running I'm sure you guys will love it!" Nya jumped to her tip toes overwhelmed by excitement.

"I think I can see why you like her," Cole whispered to Jay with a smirk and an elbow.

Jay rubbed his arms and glared at Cole.

"You two know each other? I met Jay yesterday in the library and man! He sure impressed me! He told me he read twenty books over the summer! Even I couldn't read that many!"

Cole looked at Jay with his eyebrows raised.

"Er, are you sure Nya? Cause Jay here - ow!" Cole yelped when Jay elbowed him back.

"Heh, what he's trying to say is… Are you _sure_ I said twenty books?"

Nya shook her head in question. "Um… I guess, why? Did you read more? I'm sure I can handle it if you said you read more."

Running his hand through his hair, Jay chuckled nervously. "Yeeaahh, I uh, I read twenty-five books! It was a lot but it was sure worth it! Heh heh… I guess you can say, I'm an egghead!"

"Okay, now I know for sure _that's_ a lie," Nya said with a laugh.

"Do you?" Jay asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Anyways, who cares about that? It's if you enjoyed the book that counts! Here, I'll introduce you to the other members!" Nya grabbed Jay's wrist, making Jay tingle. She pulled him over to Zane and the other two unknown members. "This is Zane, Neuro, and Skylor!"

Burning from the touch of Nya's hand, Jay quickly let go and ran up to Neuro and Skylor, shaking their hands violently.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Jay! Jay Walker! What's your names? Oh wait, that's right, Nya just mentioned them! Ha ha I'm pretty forgetful aren't I? I'm Jay - wait -"

Cole put a hand over Jay's loud mouth and pushed him to the side.

"I'm Cole, pleased to meet you," he said with a friendly handshake and big grin.

The ginger watched as Cole socialized with them, but as he did, he stumbled over to Zane. Jay leaned against Zane's shoulder and stared at the group. He let out a mournful sigh, putting his face to his palm. "Oh, Zane, what was I doing?"

"You were talking at an extremely fast pace, you're hands were shaking, and you appear to be nervous."

He slapped his face once more. Why couldn't he keep calm for just five minutes?

"Is something wrong?" He heard Zane ask.

"I can't act right when I'm around her. It's like the world is spinning so fast, she's the only one I can think of."

"Are you referring to, Nya?"

Jay answered Zane with a small nod. "Any advice?"

"My advice is to keep calm and not to worry. Just be yourself and nothing could go wrong. That's what I was told when I was in middle school." Zane let out a heavy sigh and took a seat on an empty couch as the rest of the group mingled. Jay noticed his saddened face and took a seat across from Zane, with a frown plastered on his face.

"What happened?"

 _Cyrus Borg, the man who had came in earlier was already leaving the classroom, rolling out in his wheelchair. Zane, being the only student to sit at the back row had jotted down everything he could from Cyrus' speech. He wanted to remember it. He wanted to use it._

 _Feeling that wasn't enough, he stood up and ran after him. The teacher didn't seem to care, for all she did was urge Zane to go._

 _"Mr. Borg," Zane called out, "thank you for coming in! I am not sure if anyone else has told you this, but your speech made me feel proud of who I am, and gave me hope of becoming a better me! Thank you for sharing this experience with us." Zane told him as he clutched onto the arm of the wheelchair._

 _"Why, thank you young one! What is your name?"_

 _"My name is Zane."_

 _"Well Zane, is there anything I can help you with before I leave?"_

 _Zane stood there as he pondered his thoughts. What could Borg help him with? He always had trouble fitting it. "Mr. Borg, no one here likes me. I don't know how to fit in, and I feel alone. I always try to please others but I regret my actions later on. I don't know what to do anymore, I just feel-"_

 _Cyrus put a comforting hand on Zane's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Say no more, Zane. I was just like you when I was younger, out of place. I felt I didn't belong. But later I learned that it didn't matter what other people thought of me. You just have to learn to love yourself! If you love yourself, nothing could go wrong!"_

Jay nodded as Zane told him the story. He didn't want to sound rude, but he was growing a tad bit… Bored. The only parts which interested him, were Cyrus Borg himself, and the lesson Zane was trying to teach him.

"Jay? You were listening, right?" Zane asked when he caught Jay staring dreamily at Nya.

"Oh, me? Yeah… Uh huh."

Soon, Nya was walking over to the both of them. "That sure was an interesting introduction," she said to Jay. "You two wanna come over and mingle with the others? It's no fun sitting out here alone. Ya know what I mean?"

"Of course, Nya." Zane stood up and started towards the rest of the group.

As Zane left, Nya noticed Jay looking down at his feet. She took a seat by him and started to laugh a bit. "You know, Cole told me you love comics. Do you have a favorite comic series?"

"Oh, ah, I like Starfarer…"

"Never heard of it, but I bet my brother has. If you go in and chat with the others, I promise I'll check out whatever this 'Starfarer' is. Deal?"

* * *

Jay hopped onto Cole's bed, picking up his copy of _The Catcher in the Rye._ He scooted up so that his back hit the wall, and he put his legs up so that his knees were chin level.

Cole was coming back late to the dorm because he had told Jay that he had left something back in the building where the book club was held. So to pass time, Jay decided to re read _the Catcher in the Ry_ e. Jay opened the book and stared at the pages, gagging at the condition it was in. He didn't take very good care of the book, but it didn't matter since Cole would still read it.

"" _Chapter 1 - if you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and_ -""

The door creaked open and Cole walked in, tossing his backpack at the dresser. His eyes looked incredibly tired and his posture was poor. Jay could easily tell how exhausted Cole was.

"So?" Cole had almost forgotten Jay was in the same room. He shrugged and collapsed onto his bed, closing his eyes. "Did you find it?"

Cole shook his head, opening his eyes. "What are you doing on my bed?"

Closing the book, Jay got on his knees and positioned himself so that he was looking over Cole. Jay lifted his shoulders, "I wanted to read the book, and it was on your bed…"

Cole's brows drew inwards and he frowned at Jay. Jay moved back so that Cole could sit up. He picked up the book and waved it in Cole's face. "Have you started reading it yet?" Cole replied with a no. "Why not? I thought you loved reading."

"Just because I'm a bookworm, doesn't mean I have time to read every single book in the world, Jay. Besides, didn't you say we'd be reading this in the book club?" Jay, who was still on his knees, crossed his arms. "Anyways, I have some homework to do."

Cole jumped off the bed and took a seat at his desk, putting his bag on his lap.

"It's half an hour till midnight; when's your homework due?"

"Thursday," Cole answered as he opened his textbook.

Walking over to Cole's desk, Jay closed the book and picked it up, setting it on top of the dresser. "It's Friday! We can go to the library on Monday and work on it there!"

Cole frowned at Jay's presence. "Unlike you, I prefer to start my homework early. Not slack off."

"I'm not telling you to slack off, I'm just saying that it's late and you should get some rest! You had a long day, and you need the sleep."

"Since when do I listen to you?"

"Uh, never? But you should start now and get ready for bed. Getting enough sleep helps sharpen the mind, right?"

"And so does homework!"

"For goodness sake, Cole! Homework can wait! Maybe because you're so tired from today, you're not thinking straight!"

"Okay no! Yes - maybe, I dunno anymore. But what I do know is that our bickering is getting us nowhere." Cole stood up from the chair. "We'll go to the library tomorrow -"

"Monday."

"Tomorrow. I got a whole two extra days to finish this assignment and you want me to wait till Monday?"

Jay did his best to keep a straight face.

"Fine. Monday it is."

The two of them stood still, facing each other in silence. Jay felt satisfied of convincing Cole to work on his homework, Monday. Tomorrow was their first weekend of the college year, and he wanted the two of them to relax and take it easy.

However, just as a let out a sigh of relief, his phone buzzed in the distance.

* * *

 **Okay, so here's a bit of information that I need you to know- next week I think on Wednesday or Thursday, I'll be leaving for Canada (unless something goes wrong with the weather, then the trip is cancelled). I'll be there for about five days, but for now let's just round it up to a week. And, since Cananda is across the border for me, I won't be able to use any internet/data unless I'm connected to a WiFi. Anyways, that means no updates next Thursday. BUT because I'm nice XD, I will update next week either Tuesday OR Wednesday whichever day before I leave.**

 **I'll probably be able to reply to some of your comments or read some stories as I leave, since I'll most likely still be in the state by then. Other than that, I think that's all I have to say for now. If any of you are reading my other fanfic Down a Long Road, prepare for the same news to appear when I update. I may add a few extra notes but, just a fair warning!**

 **Welp. Thanks for reading this chapter! Hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Meet the Troublemaker

**Hey yeah, I think this will be the only time I update on an irregular schedule. To Olaflover13 thanks so much for your comment! Yep, the number one priority _is_ to have fun and I bet I will starting tomorrow. I want you to know that I don't mind updating today, I've had a few chapters written out already ahead of time :)**

 **Next week's chapter is my favorite ;)**

 **Welp, now to carry on with the story.**

* * *

"What was that?"

Cole looked to Jay, curiosity written over his face. The younger male eyed his phone from the corner of his eye and walked steadily towards it, as the phone continued to vibrate. As Jay got closer, he saw a picture of his parents on the screen. Groaning, Jay dragged his hand across his face and reached for the phone.

"Hey Mom, hey Dad."

Jay felt his cheeks redden when he heard Cole snickering from behind. At least it wasn't Nya. "You do know it's almost midnight? Why are you guys still up? And why are you calling me at this hour?"

Ed nodded his head in understanding. "Oh, well, we just didn't know when the right time to call you was. So we supposed calling you late on a Friday would be okay."

 _And by late you mean half an hour till midnight late._

"How are you doing, Jay? Made any new friends? Ooh, have you met a girl yet?"

" _Mom_ ," Jay said through clenched teeth.

"I remember back in middle school when you tried to impress this adorable young lady! Too bad she was never interested in you."

Jay bit his lower lip and covered his face with his hand, keeping his back on his roommate. "Ugh, yes I remember, Mom."

Cole tapped his chin trying to recall the past few days. "You never mentioned anything about that before, Jay. You better tell me the full story when you're done."

As if he had just been struck in the head, Jay whirled around and glared at Cole. Now his parents were going to wonder who that second voice was and the face chat was never gonna end.

Just as he suspected, Ed began talking. "Oh, who was that, son? Is that you're annoying roommate you texted us about? Did ya hear that Edna? He doesn't sound quite annoying."

The words struck Cole and he stared at Jay with disbelief. The blue eyed teenager, however, kept his mouth shut, his back hunched, and his eyes wincing. He had completely forgotten that he had told his parents about Cole.

"Er, I told you guys about Cole? I don't ever remember that… heh heh… you must be thinking of someone else," as he spoke, he looked to Cole, the feeling of guilt sinking in.

"Hmm, well you never did tell us his name-"

"Or her!" Jay shouted, hoping to get through the conversation without any trouble. He slowly turned back around so that he wouldn't have to look at Cole.

"Hold on, Jay," Cole said, taking a few steps closer to Jay.

Pretending to ignore Cole, Jay continued to talk to his parents, desperate to change the subject.

"Jay -"

"So, Mom and Dad, how are you two? I miss you guys a lot and -"

With a firm hand, Cole grabbed Jay's shoulder and flipped him around so that he was looking at Jay straight in the eyes. "I said, hold on! What's so hard to understand?" He reached for the phone and waved at Jay's parents. "I'm sorry for the rude interruption but Jay is going to have to call you back."

"Eh, heh heh, no worries. It's getting late anyways. G'night, son!" He heard his parents say as the phone turned off. Cole put the device on Jay's desk and folded his arms at Jay.

"Jay, what was that all about?"

Fiddling with his fingers, Jay's eyes lowered as he tried to avoid eye contact with Cole.

"Alright, I admit! I may have… well, did, tell my parents that I didn't like you and found you sliiightly annoying. But, but that was on Tuesday! Things have changed! Right?" Shaking, Jay took a step back and shielded his face, preparing himself for the worst.

He expected a fist to the face, or maybe just for Cole to walk away and give him the silent treatment; but instead, the older male just shrugged and let out a happy sounding laugh. Not knowing how to respond, Jay began to laugh with Cole except more awkwardly.

Cole stopped laughing and he headed for his bag on the ground. "You know, Jay, as long as you were being honest I couldn't care less. 'Cause honestly, you were a pain in the neck to deal with. You were always so happy and cheery - but I guess you got the memo when you realized I was avoiding you."

"Heh, yeah… wait. What's so wrong about being 'happy and cheery'?"

"There's nothing wrong with that. I've just never met anyone like you before, it felt a little new to me." A smile began to creep up Cole's face as he continued. "That must've been the first time someone actually hated you, wasn't it? Once you said you were paying for my lunch, I knew something was up. But I guess once you get to know a guy as positive and determined as you, they're not that bad."

It was already midnight when the two of them were dressed in their pajamas. Jay's parents calling him in the middle of the night had made Cole less tired than he was beforehand. Clearing his throat, Cole looked to Jay from across the room.

"So, about that story?"

* * *

 **Saturday.**

Kai had gotten his job just a few days before college started.

He rushed to the sinks and pulled out a scoop of ice from the bucket, pouring it into the mocha. It was fairly warm outside and Kai could understand the demands of all the frappuccinos and iced teas.

It was tiring running around taking orders and then having to prepare the drinks for the customers. It wasn't that he was the only employee there at the moment, it was the fact that his partner was late. He was always late.

Kai never understood why, but it was just the way it was.

"Iced mocha for Kathy!" Kai shouted and set the drink on the counter. He gritted his teeth together and went back to the cash register, waiting for the next customers.

When no one came in for the past five minutes, Kai rested his head on the counter letting out a sigh of relief. Finally some relaxing time. He didn't know how long it would last but it was worth it.

He decided to make himself a drink since he was burning under his employee uniform, but he shook the thought off. When his partner came, he would ask him.

The door swung open and Kai's head perked up.

" _Ronin_."

"Yeah, that's my name, don't wear it out!"

"What took you so long?" Kai asked.

"Relax, Kai, I was a half an hour earlier today."

"That still doesn't make up for the entire last week! What were you doing?"

Ronin casually strode up to Kai, put an arm up on the counter, and winked. "I prefer not to tell. My business is my business, not yours."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Firstly, you're a senior! Secondly, you're acting like an employee who's most likely to get fired! On second thought, why aren't you fired?! And last, you did something you prefer "not to tell" - which could mean you did something insane!"

"Hey, hey, hey. I might've done something bad, I might've done something good. That's the kind of person I am. Unlike you, who relies too much on social media. Give it a rest already, Kai. The only time you're not on your phone is when you're working."

Before their feud could carry on, the door opened once more and in walked Cole and Jay.

"Told you this was the place!" Jay said beaming with delight as he pointed to Kai.

Cole smiled. "Yeah, 'a café' wasn't a very helpful description." He walked pass Jay and waved to Kai.

"Um, do I know you?" Kai asked, his voice slightly higher as he examined Cole from top to bottom.

Ronin nodded his head when he saw Cole. "Hmm, what do you do? Cause by the looks of it you seem like the typical teenager who'd party and stuff. But at the same time, I can tell you don't do that."

Cole felt a little weird standing there, and took a few steps to the side away from Ronin. "Ummm... who are you?"

"Name's Ronin, who's the short guy?" Ronin pointed a finger at Jay.

Jay crossed his arms and flared his nostrils, staring at Ronin intensely. "Excuse me? I am not short! Am I?"

"I can tell you you're about half a foot shorter than the big guy."

Kai walked around the back and stood between Ronin and Cole. "Ronin cut it out." He looked past Cole's shoulder and recognized Jay. "Hey... Jaaay?" The ginger hair nodded and stepped closer to Cole. "Who are you?"

"Jay never told you about me?" Kai shook his head with an unsure look. "I'm Cole. This where you work?"

"Yeahuh. Don't mind Ronin," he said, hefting a thumb over his shoulder at the junior. "He's my partner and a junior here at Ninjago University."

Glass shattered and the three of them turned their attentions to Ronin, who stood with a look that a child would normally give their parent when they knew they were in trouble.

"What the heck did you do?!"

"You see, Kai, one can never learn until they make mistakes. Heh, in this case, let this be my mistake that I must learn from."

Kai's face heated up and he eyeballed Ronin, clenching his fists in frustration. As Kai began to take his anger out on the older employee, Cole leaned to Jay putting a hand by his mouth to whisper.

"I thought you said this guy is a totally social media wiz. He doesn't even have a phone with him."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he is! He's just on working hours, duh!"

Kai raised a fist in front of Ronin and gritted his teeth together. Dining, however, stood behind the counter with a quirky grin and a shrug of his shoulders as if a sign of apology. But by the looks of it, Ronin didn't seem very sorry.

"Ronin you little sh-"

"Language, Kai!" A voice snapped, sending chills up everyone's spines.

They all faced the door, in which Jay was met by the eyes of a woman he thought he'd never see again until Monday after school.

Nya stood tapping her foot, arms crossed, and an unpleasant look in her face. She glared right through Cole and straight at Kai. "I came here to get a drink and what am I greeted by? Shouting and fighting… And my own brother about to curse! Bad, Kai!"

Even in this situation Jay still found Nya irresistible. He continued to stare at her with dreamy eyes.

When Nya noticed Ronin, she started walking towards him, her brows drawing nearer. "What is going on here? What did you do, Ronin?" Her face made a disgusted look when she noticed glass and other stuff spread all over the floor.

"I made a few boo-boos here and there, that's all."

Jay stood on his tip toes. "Do you think Ronin used to be Nya's… Ya know?" After hearing Jay's words, Cole's eyes widened and he punched Jay in the arm. "Okay, okay, just… Wondering." He watched as Ronin and Nya began to fight as a couple would. A part of him felt jealous, but another just enjoyed seeing Nya this way.

 _Are you two a couple?_

They froze and looked to Jay. He hadn't realized he had said that out loud. A hand slammed over his mouth and he shrunk back behind Cole.

"What?! Ew! … NO!" The two of them shouted in unison with a firm no.

"We're just friends… It's a complicated relationship," said Nya.

Kai laughed and whispered to Jay, "she once told me, Ronin was the reason she never dated guys. Oh and me."

Jay pouted like a puppy.

After a few minutes of goofing around, a herd of customers came running in the cafè. Kai got Ronin to clean up his mess while he handled the people. Cole and Jay took a seat on the couch looking chairs, Cole hoisting his feet up on the coffee table.

Nya started walking to them with lemonade in her hands. "You two want anything? We could take a walk around the building -"

"I'd love to!" Jay piped, jumping up from his seat.

* * *

Jay put his mouth to the straw and hummed when the cold beverage hit his taste buds. It was delicious and he was definitely coming back.

"So, back in the cafè when you said something about a 'complicated relationship' with Ronin, what did you mean?"

Nya lowered her cup and looked at Jay.

"Ronin? I first met him while I was still in grade school. It was… A weird run in..."

 _"Be careful, Kai!" She yelled to her brother as the little girl hopped onto a swing. She began to move her feet as momentum to get the swing moving. Watching as happiness filled her, she saw her brother sliding down the blue slide looking like he was having the time of his life._

 _She began to swing higher, and as she got higher she began to wonder if she'd ever meet someone. Someone who would take interest in her. Someone who she'd like back._

 _Everyone was talking about boys in school. And it was fun to listen to since they were all just fifth graders. Some of the girls at school acted like the popular kids, though it never really happened once you reached high school. That's when all the names and cliques really came into action._

 _She realized the swing was coming to a slow stop and Nya sighed to herself and sat there for a while._

 _"Hey! If you're not using the swing at least let someone else use it."_

 _Nya looked up to see a boy around her age, standing in front of her with his arms crossed. It was Ronin._

 _"Well in case you didn't know, I'm still using it!" Nya said to him._

 _"Hey, look miss, I didn't mean to cause any trouble. Just wanted a swing, maybe I can buy you an ice cream some time?"_

 _Startled, Nya jumped off the swing and shoved it at Ronin._

 _"No way! Here! You can take your stupid swing!" She began marching towards Kai, who was sitting on one end of the see-saw. "Kai, we're going home. Now!"_

 _"Aww, but I'm still updating my status!"_

Nya frowned at the memory.

"I ran into him a couple of times after that. I never said anything, I just let him do whatever he wanted to do. Then we met again here, I was a newb and he was a sophomore." Jay nodded as Nya talked to him. They were approaching a bookstore with a wooden bench sitting right outside. "He was an… Interesting sort of person. Unfortunately he stayed in a dorm right across from me. I was sorta surprised, since he was a sophomore, that he didn't even have his own apartment. But I guess that's what he wanted."

Jay shook his empty plastic cup and eyed the ice at the bottom. He frowned when he noticed there was barely anything left and lowered the cup.

"O-Oh, umm, you think since I'm sorta 'friends' with Kai… I can get a refill?"

The girl's eyes widened and chortled at Jay's question. "I have a feeling he'll say no, but you can go ahead and give it a try."

* * *

 **For some reason I just love little backstories ^^ Anyways, I've got a lot of packing to do now before I leave tomorrow. But I'll have one more story update coming on the way today! Not for this fanfic though, lol. It's for my second one *wink***

 **Say, before I go, anyone have a tumblr? I've been bugging all my followers on Instagram about tumblr cause I recently fell in love with the media and am so addicted to it!**

 **Well, now, *in Photo Finish voice* I go!**


	9. Shelters and Smoothies

**This chapter is mainly just Jay and Cole - wasn't aiming for any bruise but if you want to consider it that way, be my guest. Anyways, let's get along with this chapter, shall we?**

* * *

"Remind me again where we're headed. And why?" Cole asked Jay as they marched down the sidewalk.

Cole had taken the bus to the college campus, while Jay on the other hand had driven a car. But, instead of driving to their destination or taking any type of fast transport, Cole had convinced Jay to go the more healthier way. By walking.

Jay patted at his pocket which held his phone and tilted his head with a playful smile.

"Zane had asked me if I could fill in for him at the shelter. Just for today."

"And why did I have to come along?"

"Cause you agreed to."

"Ahem, no. You practically bribed me to come. If I remember correctly, this was you, 'Come to the shelter with me, please, please, please! All these animals… So alone! They need a friend! Obviously the people who do care have a heart - you have a heart… Right?' You offered to buy me cake too," Cole added with a smug grin.

"One, that was a horrible impression of me. And two, yeah well, the cake shall have to wait till after the animals. They're gonna get lonely, ya know? You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

"Hey, the animals at the shelter got their shop keeper to look after them."

"And he got us to help! He can't do it all by himself. Plus, Zane said he's really nice. Or was it a she? I'm not sure, but no worries!"

As the two of them continued on the sidewalk, Jay checked his phone to refer back to the shelter name when needed. He soon noticed they were getting closer to their destination.

Opening the door, he shouted: "Heyo!"

"Woah! What now?" A head creeped around the corner and focused on Jay. "Ah, Zane told me that someone else would be filling in for him today." Her gaze landed on Cole. "Hm, didn't expect two people. Well, the more the merrier!"

"Hi! I'm, Jay, and this here is Cole."

"Well, Jay. I'm Patty. Have you ever volunteered for a shelter before?"

"N-no, unless it counts if I've seen people on TV do it?"

The woman burst into laughter and she slung an arm around Jay. Soon enough, Jay was laughing with her, awkwardly. "No worries, I'll just teach ya two what you need to know and then you're off to work!"

Patty led them to the back of the shelter where there were puppies and kittens separated by column. Jay's eyes grew larger at the sight of all the animals. He put his hands to his cheeks as Patty led them further back. Cole, however, was confused by Jay's expression. When they came to a stop, she pointed to a wall with dog leashes and such hanging off the hooks.

She began to explain to them. "Treats are over here, and so are some other extra supplies. At the moment, I'd like to have you two just bathe the animals. The bathing station is just on the other side of that wall. And here's a pamphlet with the proper techniques. After that, if you want to take Winona here on a walk. She used to be a farm dog, used for herding other animals; so she needs the most exercise. Now, before I leave, I'll show you two boys the proper way to lift a dog." After a short demonstration, she continued talking. "If you have anymore questions, you can come to me! Anywho, I'll leave you two to it!" With a wave of her hand, Patty walked back to the front of the store.

The first thing Jay did was shoot a look at Cole.

"What?"

"You wanna bathe the animals and I watch?"

"Watch what?"

"... Thhee other animals!"

"You're helping me and that's that. You're the one who said yes to helping Zane out. Now, help me grab these little guys out. One at a time, and since none of us have ever done this before, we're gonna have to work on the first few together. I'll read through the steps as we go." He watched as Jay lifted one of the beagle's.

 _Wow, he sure knows how to plan_ , Jay thought as he carried the beagle into the bathing room.

"Eh, I'm really nervous, Cole. You do know that most dogs don't like baths right?"

"Mhmm," said Cole as he read over the pamphlet.

"You're not listening to me, are you?"

"Nah, no, I heard you. Just… reading over what we need to do. Don't want to mess this up, do we? Hah, whadda ya know? It actually says two people bathing a dog makes it quicker!"

Cole snapped his fingers when he got the first ten steps down and he stood up, picking up a brush. He began to brush the dog's fur, attempting at getting any loose fur out. Jay watched, with a bit of confusion as Cole proceeded to brush and interact with the beagle. Placing the dog into the tub, Cole lifted what looked like a showerhead, over a bucket on the side and placed his hand under the running water.

When it was lukewarm, he handed the showerhead to Jay. "You've gotta wet the dog now, but try and avoid the ears."

As Jay wet the dog, Cole reached for the dog shampoo and skimmed over it.

Without warning, water hit him in the face and Cole stumbled back, dragging his hand across his face. "Agh! Jaaaay!"

"Whaaat?" The ginger placed a hand over his mouth in attempt to cover up his laughing. In response, he aimed at Cole again as another blast hit the dark haired teenager.

Cole was about ready to snap at Jay and get him to focus on the job, but instead, he began to laugh as he realized how drenched he was. Jay was just having fun, and there was no harm in that. He switched the shampoo for the showerhead. So as Jay started to lather the dog's body in soap, Cole turned up the pressure just a tad bit and sprayed at Jay.

A puddle surrounded the younger one and he lifted his arms, guffawing at how heavy his body felt from the wet shirt. "Ha, ha ha! We're not even done bathing the dog but we just bathed each other!" He fell backwards onto the ground, putting a hand to his forehead as he burst into laughter.

Cole's shoulders hefted up and he then continued to cover the beagle in dog shampoo. "Okay, okay, less splashing, and more working; let's finish as soon as possible."

"Alriiight," said Jay as he got back up, a smile creeping up his face.

* * *

"Finally! I wanna go to the mall and just relax in one of their massage chairs," Jay said as he collapsed against the wall, leaning his head back. "Then, I wanna grab a smoothie and prrrooobaably stop by the game store."

Cole lifted one of the puppies in his arms and shook his head at Jay. "We still have to take Winona for a walk; there's a huge park just across the shelter," he told Jay as he placed the puppy back into its respectful box like container. " _Then_ we can maybe grab a smoothie."

"Man, I forgot about that," Jay muttered, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to pick out a leash.

"Hey, don't get mad at me. Remember, you're the one who volunteered to fill in for Zane." Jay rolled his eyes, that was the second time he mentioned that. Cole set the border collie on the ground and placed his hand behind her neck, scratching behind her ear. Winona's tail wagged with excitement as she looked up at Cole with her deep brown eyes. He was handed the leash and collar, and soon it was safely secured around Winona's neck.

From the front, he could hear Patty calling out to them. "Just a good half an hour, should be fine!"

It took a little over five minutes to reach the park. And when they finally did Jay seated himself on a park bench - actually, to be more specific, he was lying down on the bench. The light from the sun was hurting his eyes, so he covered them with his hand as the other arm draped off the bench.

Cole was standing by the end of the bench, leaning against it with one elbow rested on the top.

Right when they arrived at the park, Jay had taken no interest in keeping an eye on the dog. The first thing he did was head to the bench to relax. So, Cole was left with the duty of watching Winona. The first ten, fifteen minutes he squeezed in on the bench and went on his phone as Winona ran up to other dogs and people. But the minutes ticked by and he grew bored having to watch Winona run around.

He reached for the frisbee by Jay's legs and walked on over to the dog. He called for her attention, in which he didn't really know how too, since he'd never had a dog before. But, it somehow worked and once Winona was by his side, Cole ruffled her fur with a grin on his face.

"Okay, Winona, I've never really _played_ with a dog before… You want the frisbee?" He began and started repeating those four words teasingly as he flashed the disc in the collie's face. "Fetch!" Cole tossed the frisbee into the open grass and smiled with satisfaction as Winona chased after it.

Coming back to Cole, the teen got down on a knee and pet her playfully. After a few more rounds of throwing the frisbee, Cole collapsed onto the grass and laughed, staring up at the leaves. He positioned his hands under his head and let out a breath, closing his eyes, Winona sitting down by Cole's right.

The park was nice and quiet. He couldn't hear much but the faint sound of feet against the ground, the pants from the dog, and the birds flying by.

"It sure is nice down here."

Cole jerked and he slammed a fist into Jay's side.

"Youch!"

He had been so absorbed by the peace and quiet, that he hadn't even heard Jay roll up next to him.

"Jeez!" Cole hissed as he tried to process what just happened. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Hey, hey, I didn't scare you! I just… decided to surprise you! There's a difference." Jay winked. "Anywho, it's already been about 31 ish minutes. Times flies when you're having fun, huh?"

"You didn't do anything but sleep."

"Ayy, I didn't sleep. In fact, I heard you talking to her. Isn't that adorable?"

Cole pushed Jay's face away and he sat up, as Winona trotted in front of him. Sitting up as well, Jay shook the grass from his hair and shirt.

"I expect my smoothie delivered to me in 10 minutes. No more. No less."

Cole snorted. "Pfh, yeah right. Come on, let's get Winona back and then we can grab that smoothie."

* * *

"Why would you rather grab ice cream over a smoothie?"

"Because I like ice cream. Besides, you've been asking me this question since we got here. Do you have a problem with folks who don't like smoothies?"

"N-No, I was just… Very very _very_ curious."

Cole rolled his eyes. "Riiight, enough about that. While we're here, I want to check out the bookstore."

"But - I already gave you a book to read! And you want to see more?!"

"I just want to check em out, Jay. If there's anything new, I may get it. If not, we'll just leave." Cole opened the door to the bookstore and allowed Jay to walk in ahead of him. The ginger rushed to the comics isle, his blue eyes growing bigger after every cover he saw.

Cole picked up a few chapter books and skimmed over the summary and first few pages. As he read through, Jay came up beside him holding up a bundle of issues from a variety of comics.

"Feast your eyes on this! I've been searching for this issue of Starfarer for weeks! Never had the chance to go to a comics store or anything like that… But check it out! I finally found it! Oh, oh, and I also found one called _Chilli Tid_! Dunno what that is yet, but it's worth a shot!"

Cole put a hand on the comics Jay had shoved in his face, and lowered them slowly shaking his head at his friend.

"No more comics for a while, Jay. You signed up for the book club, right? Well, we - I mean, I am going to help you start reading real books. That way, when we start reading in the club, you won't complain and give me a huge headache. Kay?" Jay nodded, a frown on his face. "But, I guess one comic doesn't hurt."

They sat down by the back where there were four small couches set up and a coffee table in the center. Cole laid out all the different books he had picked out and turned them so that they were facing Jay.

"Anything that interests you?"

Jay shook his head. "How about you tell me what kind of books you like to read."

"I like crime, Sci-Fi, fiction, fantasy… Um… Those are basically the type of comics I read."

Cole put a hand to his face and reached for the books he had spread out on the table. "How about this one? I'll grab my own copy and we can sort of do a two person book club in our dorm. That way, I can make sure you're actually reading the book."

"Okay, but can we hurry up, here? We haven't gotten my smoothie yet!" Jay fidgeted with the cloth around his thighs and motioned for Cole to pick up the pace.

The black-haired teen gathered the books and handed them to Jay. "Here, you go put these back, while I grab a second copy of this and pay for them," he said as he waved the single book at Jay's face. The ginger let out a sigh and proceeded to put the books away. "Wait- where's your comic? The issue of Starfarer you wanted…?"

Jay straightened his back and whirled around to look at Cole. "Really? You'll buy this for me?"

"Sure. It's just a comic."

After Cole left, Jay headed straight for the front of the store where he had seen Cole take the books from. He didn't want to read another long, boring, no pictured, chapter book. He liked comics more. They were filled with color, characters you could actually see on each page. And best of all, the dialogue was short and easy to understand.

The last thing he had to do was return _Chilli Tid_ to its rightful place on the shelf. And unfortunately, that shelf was under the new released comics.

" _It's just a comic_ ," Jay said in a whiny high pitched voice, trying to imitate Cole. He rolled his eyes and left the comic shelf slowly. "Yeah, right; just a comic? It's the best one out there." He at least had to be grateful Cole was buying it for him. Comics were expensive for just that many pages, and very little writing, but more drawing.

However, Jay wasn't looking where he was walking and he bumped into Cole suddenly.

"Seriously? Next time, look up. Not down," said Cole as he helped Jay up and handed him his comic and book. "Now, let's get you that smoothie."

As they walked towards the smoothie place, Jay couldn't help but think about Nya yesterday. He felt awful for not listening to her whole story. He was the one who wanted to walk with her. He was the one who asked. He was the one who didn't listen.

Jay tried to ignore everything that happened yesterday, but it was so hard too, especially since he'd never done that to anyone before. When he was younger, he always loved listening to other people's stories, no matter how long or boring.

"Something on your mind?"

"... No…"

"You're awfully quiet. And based off the nickname I gave you, I don't think it means quiet."

As soon as they reached the smoothie shop, Jay trotted on over in line and waited while Cole took a seat by the doors. The line was pretty long, and as Jay stood, he thought about Nya, making the guilt inside him build up more. He even lied to Nya, just to get close to her. And it worked.

Giving up, he got out of line and headed for the doors, Cole following.

"Woah, I thought you wanted a smoothie?"

"Yeah, well I don't anymore…"

"I know something's wrong, Jay. But what is it?"

"It's nothing. Just - let's head back to the dorm. I'm tired."

"What happened to the smile? The jokes? The-"

"It was so easy when I was little, to cover up guilt with a smile. To listen to people without getting bored. To find everything in the world… _awesome_." Jay started to walk ahead of Cole, keeping his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Cole quickened his pace so that he was walking beside Jay, but the other refused to walk side by side. "Jay, what is going on? You don't have to keep whatever is bothering you inside. You can tell me."

Jay stopped walking and leaned against one of the store walls. He inhaled, his breath shaking. "I, I dunno - I guess if never handled this before. Seeing Nya happy, when I lied to her just felt… Bad. And then, when I was walking with her yesterday, I asked her about Ronin, and I didn't even listen to what she was telling me!"

"Hey… Sounds like you've never done something like that before, huh?" Jay nodded his head. "You've never felt bad about anything before? Until now?" Jay tilted his head to the side.

"Well I guess there was one other thing I did feel slightly guilty about. But, I thought you'd figure it out already."

"Ha, yeah, I knew you were copying my notes before. You left my notebook by my bed the first night you started."

"Well then, why didn't you stop me?"

"Because I felt the same way when I saw you weren't taking notes. The least I could've done to help was pretend I didn't know you were copying my notes."

Jay muttered a soft ' _oh_ '.

"But, the best thing you can do to get over that feeling, is to be honest."

"I'm not sure how she'll react, though."

"Don't think about how they'll react to the truth. People are always glad you'd tell the truth rather than carry a lie with you. If you had told me you were copying notes if I didn't know, I might've gotten a little angry…"

"Heh. A _little_?"

"Point is, don't let their reaction get you. I'm sure Nya would still be friends with you after you tell her."

"You're - you're right, Cole… Thanks," said Jay as he looked up to his friend with a thankful smile.

* * *

 **A few notes before I go, there's been theories going around about Cole and Jay being related. Lolz. I actually came up with my own theory, so feel free to check it out! The link is in the bio!** **In case anyone was wondering about the reason behind the whole related thing, DM me! Or just leave it in the comments and I'll answer you as soon as possible!**

 **And the last note, some people have been getting super hyped for HoT... When DotD hasn't even aired yet! Guys, let's just all hype for DotD first okay? Cole didn't get a season, but he got a special, no excuse not to hype for that and rather HoT. Show Cole the love!**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter ^^**


	10. Broken Promises

**Sorry folks for the *insert number* hour late chapter! I started my first day of high school on Tuesday, so obviously this story went down to my bottom priorities. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"And so…"

Jay's head lolled to the side, his eyes shifting to a close. He couldn't stay awake any longer. The two of them arrived back at the dorm around nine o'clock. And as Cole was able to head straight to sleep, Jay was left lying wide awake on his bed.

There wasn't anything particular on his mind. He just couldn't sleep.

Jerking awake, Jay rubbed his eyes and looked around the classroom hoping he hadn't missed the rest of class. Students were still in their seats, some of them drawing, reading, taking notes, listening to the instructor or something else. No one else was sleeping, and Jay felt himself heat up hoping no one saw him.

"Why are you falling asleep all of the sudden?" Cole asked.

Jay shook his head, trying to process Cole's words. He was still tired and everything around him was slow.

"Huh? Oh… I couldn't really sleep last night…"

"How are you gonna help when we're at the library then?"

"I dunno… we can do it tomorrow?" Jay managed to get out before a yawn and a head slam to the table.

Cole flinched and lifted Jay's head, hoping the sound wasn't too loud. Jay's head hung back as far as possible, making Cole cringe at how far his neck was arched back. He decided to ignore it and let Jay copy his notes back at the dorm.

Once class was over, Cole caught Jay stumbling a bit in the corridors. He struggled to stay awake, saying things to himself every time he nearly fell over, or crashed into something.

Cole wasn't entirely sure if Jay was even prepared for the rest of the day. But then he remembered during lunch, how Jay had missed his sandwich when he went to take a bite. It didn't happen only once; Jay had missed the sandwich almost five times in total.

"Is this the library?"

Cole looked up and he saw Jay palming at the fairly large glass windows. Jay pressed his face against the glass and gazed inside, chuckling softly. The black-haired male walked over and pulled Jay away from the windows, walking towards the entrance.

"You looked like a complete idiot."

"It's not my fault… I couldn't slap - I mean _sleep_."

"Actually, it _was_ your fault. If you had trouble sleeping why didn't you wake me or call your parents or something?"

Jay pinched between his eyes and squinted at Cole. "Eh?"

Cole shook his head glumly. "Whatever. Come on, you promised you'd help, remember?"

"Mhmm? I guess…"

"I am _this_ close to slapping you."

Inside the library, the two of them had taken a seat towards the back, where there were four tables set up with two to three chairs at each table. Cole had set up his supplies. A laptop, textbook, and papers and pencils. While Cole was working, Jay had slipped away once again, head down on the table.

Frustrated, Cole pressed hard against his paper. He dropped his pencil and crumpled the paper into a ball, pushing it to the side. Pulling the laptop to him, he decided to do take a quick break from work. Jay wasn't helping at all. He had a sinking feeling something like that would happen, but he didn't want to think about it.

"Hey, Cole. Right?" Cole turned his head and saw the last person he wanted to see, walking towards him.

"What are you doing here?"

"What? A guy like me can't visit the library?"

Cole stared at Ronin and raised a brow as if to say ' _really_ '?

"Yeah, you're right. I just saw you and Jay from outside. Man, he sure is out cold. What are you doing?"

"I'm working on homework."

"And you dragged him along with you?"

"Actually, he offered to come here on Friday just for me. But I guess now he's lost somewhere in dreamland and isn't keeping his promise."

Cole leaned back against the chair and folded his arms, staring at his computer screen. Ronin's eyes darted around the library and he pulled a chair over, sitting on it backwards.

"I don't usually offer to help people unless they give me something in return…"

"Really? You're staying?"

"Sure, if it means you can get your homework done. I was a freshman once too, ya know?"

Cole laughed.

Ronin wasn't much help, but at least he was doing something. Unlike Jay whom continued to sleep.

Feeling an awkward tension between the two of them, Cole cleared his throat.

"So, how was your weekend?" Asked Cole.

Ronin shrugged as he played the mouse on the computer. "Eh, nothing new, really. Kai yelled at me a couple times, Sunday… Nya, hah, she was snapping at me like one of those snapping turtles or something." He ran a hand through his hair and chuckled. "Anyways, I think I've done enough help. Stuff like this doesn't get you money, you know?"

Cole's lips formed a thin line. "You could always tutor."

"No chance. I like doing things on my own. Plus, seems like your little friend is waking." Ronin pointed out as he pointed his thumb towards Jay.

The ginger shifted a little and sat up halfway, rubbing his eyes. He felt much better now. Fully awake and full of energy.

"Ay, Ronin? What are you doing here?"

"You've been replaced, buddy. Cole here is my new pal. Now shoo, move along, you're sleeping powers are needed someplace else." Ronin said with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around Cole.

Cole tensed and he looked from Jay to Ronin. "Uhh…"

"Well then, good luck on your homework, Cole! My service is required elsewhere!" As if he had taken that literally, Jay stood up and started towards the door.

Ronin ran to Jay and blocked his path. "Woah, you know I was joking, right?"

"Pfh yeah. I just need some fresh air, that's all."

Jay stepped outside and took a glance around the courtyard. He had been asleep for too long, and he had been asleep during class. He pulled out his phone and started texting his parents. Soon, Cole joined Jay outside, looking over his shoulder.

"I'm pretty upset about you falling asleep when you promised to help me. But, lucky for you, I'm nice enough to lend you my notes."

"Thanks… sorry I was out for most of the day," Jay let out a soft sigh.

"Was there a reason you couldn't sleep last night?"

"No, at least I don't think so. But who cares? The past is the past! Hey, quick question could I borrow your laptop?"

When Jay had said he wanted to ask a question, he wasn't expecting something like that. "Um, no… what for?"

"Kai invited me to his dorm tonight to play a multiplayer game online! Please? I promise I won't do anything bad to it."

"No. First time you asked for my help, you promised cake, but you never got me any. Second time, you made a promise to help with my homework; but you fell asleep and I got Ronin's help instead."

Cole furrowed his brows at Jay and started to walk away from him.

"Please?!"

Remaining silent, Cole headed back to the dorm.

"Some friend you are!"

"All because I didn't lend you my laptop?"

"Yeah! I don't have my own!"

"Wow. I bet fun and games is the first thing on your list. You're in _college_ , Jay! Do you even have a part-time job?"

Jay frowned and crossed his arms as Cole kept walking.

"I came here to learn too, obviously. You need to learn to have a little fun in your life too, _Dirtclod_."

Cole out a hand to his face and groaned in annoyance. "I can have fun. But I'm not for the idea of lending you my laptop."

"Fine then. How bout, you come with me to Kai's dorm and we play a bit of his game? I won't touch your computer, but you're going to play for me."

"... Fine…"

* * *

 **Felt a little rushed, but eh. I have some news. Due to school starting and me being at a school where my work actually matters, unlike middle school and elementary, I will be updating every other Thrusday now.**

 **Also, I know this is still pretty early, but if you check out my profile, scroll down a bit, and you'll find my plans for a Ninjago Christmas short! Please read it! I want to hear your feedback on the idea and when the fanfic comes out. I've been planning this since I think July or either June.**

 **Anyways, that's all for now, folks. If I have anything else I need to say, I may just message you guys personally.**


	11. Games Kai Plays

**Once again, this chapter is pretty boring (in my eyes); but I promise in the next update the chapter will be great! I'll be skipping over some days/weeks/months starting the next chapter just to speed some things up. We don't need to know what goes on EVERYday right? Cause not everyday is a fun one.**

 **Also, if anyone was wondering, the cover image was drawn by me so no stealing please... Or whatever. If you'd like to see the full image, just check out my DeviantArt!**

 **So, with that being said, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Knock knock knock_

Kai stood up from his desk and ran straight to the door. He had been expecting Jay to come over about fifteen minutes ago, he wondered what might've caused Jay to come late. Opening the door, he grinned when he saw Jay.

"You made it! Uh-" Kai tilted his head when he caught notice of Cole standing behind Jay with a glum face. "What's he doing here?"

"Sorry, Kai," began Jay as he invited himself in and jumped onto the brunette's bed, sighing, "I can't play with you tonight. _Mr. Meany_ , here didn't let me borrow his laptop." Cole rolled his eyes and marched into Kai's room, setting his laptop onto Kai's desk.

"You don't have your own computer?"

"Ehhh, what if I told you I'm a spender? I waste my money a lot, heheh," Jay told Kai.

"So, why are _you_ here then?" Kai asked, pointing a finger at Cole.

"He asked me to play for him. So, let's please make this game night quick and easy, kay?"

Kai lifted his laptop screen and took a seat in his chair. "Sorry, there's no extra chairs. You and Jay can sit on the bed, I don't have a roommate."

 _Lucky you_ , both Jay and Cole thought as they looked at each other from the corner of their eyes.

Picking up his laptop from the table, Cole took a seat on the bed, the side closest to Kai, with Jay sitting behind him on his knees, peering over Cole's shoulders. He had no clue what they were playing; Jay hadn't explained anything to him other than to play an online game with Kai for just an hour. He sat there, blankly, moving his mouse across his screen, waiting for someone to realize he didn't know what to do next.

Jay scooted over and sat on Cole's right. "You need to download the app first," he told Cole.

"Why didn't you tell me before we came here? Could've saved us some time."

As the game was downloading onto Cole's computer, Jay lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling tuning out everything around him. Kai swiveled around in his chair and looked at Cole.

"Have you ever played Craftshine before?"

"... _Craft_ … _Shine_?"

"I'll take that as a no. It's basically a game of building. There are two different types of modes, _Free Building_ and _Survival Venture_ , or just _Survival_ for short. Today we're going to play on the _Survival_ mode. I'll note you on certain things you have to know as we play, but for now, just stick with me," said Kai with a wink and he turned back to his computer.

Cole, having so many questions running through his brain, scratched his head and turned to Jay who had his eyes glued onto the computer screen. The ginger raised his head to look at his roommate, as if he felt Cole's staring.

"It's almost fully loaded," he told him, thinking that's what Cole was expecting to hear.

Once the game was downloaded onto his computer, Kai started speaking to Cole again, making sure to explain to Cole what was important of _Survival_ mode. "So, for the rest of the gameplay just follow my lead. Okay? I put down two extra beds while you two were waiting for the game to load. That means when it turns dark, you gotta hop into bed. Unless you want to stay up and get attacked or just adventure out."

"You sure know a lot about the game," Cole said.

"I played it when I was little with Nya. To be honest, Nya was the one who discovered the game, and she was the one who was the best at surviving… But, I've gotten way better! Even my avatar is cool!"

Jay and Cole both rolled their eyes and Cole soon logged into the app. He took a swift look at the computer clock and bit his lip. _Quarter to ten_ , _the app took almost half an hour to download_ , he thought. "Uh, Kai, how long do you think we're going to be playing?"

"Probably an hour or two. I dunno, depends on how long it takes till you master my level…"

"Um, _your_ level? What exactly is _your_ level?" Cole asked. If he ended up coming back to their dorm around midnight, he would blame Jay for making him stay up that late.

Kai didn't respond, instead he turned his attention to the screen. "Okay, Cole, I have a server up, come join me."

"How…"

Before Cole could say any more, Jay started scooting closer to him and pointed at a button on the screen. "Hit the button that says _friends_. Then you click this, and his server should pop up eventually."

Instantly, Kai's server popped up and Cole joined in the game. They started out slow, well, Cole did, but Kai was running everywhere. He was gathering materials, fighting off monsters and doing everything Cole wasn't. The black-haired teen wasn't surprised, but he continued to carry on doing what he was doing.

Jay knocked his head against Cole's shoulder and groaned. "Dude, what are you doing? Look at Kai! He's doing… Cool stuff, while you're doing boring stuff!"

"Jay… Shut up."

In the past hour, Cole took down a few mobs but was finding himself getting taken down constantly. Finally, after about thirty more minutes, Kai found himself disappointed in Cole's play and slammed a fist against the table. He turned to face Cole, shooting him an intense glare.

"Why?!"

"Why what?"

"You've died almost 5 times already!"

"Yeah, so? It's not like I had anything important."

"You did! You had that sword I gave you, a few ores, and a bone!"

"What's a bone gonna help with?"

"To find dogs, Cole! Dogs! They can help fend off mobs and assist in killing whatever you hit! Without a bone you can't tame a wild dog."

Cole's lips tightened and he eyed Kai, growing annoyed of both Kai and Jay. "It's just a game, you could get a dog in real life and it would still be able to do the same things."

"Don't get all logical with me." He sighed and closed his computer. "It was supposed to just be me and Jay playing! Not, me, you, and Jay watching close by!"

"He fell asleep! You expected him to stay up this late? It's almost midnight!" Cole said to Kai as he gestured to sleepy ginger who was leaning his head against Cole's shoulder.

"Whatever! We played our game, now you two can leave."

Cole growled softly, ready to leave Kai's dorm. He shook Jay gently and waited for the other to wake up.

"Hmm, what? What time is it?"

Cole shook his head and stood up, facing the door. "Doesn't matter, it's late and we have class tomorrow." Jay watched as Cole stomped angrily out of the room, and slammed the door.

"What's his problem?" Jay questioned with a chuckle, but was surprised by Kai's reaction to it. The brunette had his arms folded across his chest and his back at the door, a frown plastered on his face.

"Pfh, I dunno."

* * *

It was lunchtime.

Jay had chosen to sit outside while the weather was still nice. In a few weeks, it would be Fall and by then, it'd be a little more colder. But the leaves would turn into a batch of red, orange, yellow and probably a little green, looking real prettBy.

"What was going on between you and Kai?" Jay asked as they took a seat under a tree. He noticed that when they saw each other before school started, Kai took a detour, clearly trying to avoid Cole.

Jay pulled out a sandwich and unwrapped it from it's plastic wrap, mouth watering at the sight of it. He was extremely hungry and hadn't realized he had such a small breakfast this morning.

"Nothing important, just something really stupid. Besides, I'm sure he'll get over it soon enough. And we barely even know each other."

Jay let out a soft _oh_. He guessed Cole was right. "Yeah, I guess so… Um, sorry for asking you to come play for me last night."

Jay earned no response and Cole continued to eat his lunch, a silence falling between the two of them. Jay didn't remember much from last night, and he had a bit of trouble falling asleep again when they got back to the dorm. Cole had told him he had fallen asleep after about forty minutes into the game.

"And… I'm sorry about yesterday…"

"What about yesterday? Aside from the whole game with Kai."

"I fell asleep remember?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, well it's no biggie. I blame myself for forcing you to help me in the library. I know you promised you'd help that day, but you were tired… there wasn't anything I could really do about that."

Jay raised a brow and looked at Cole with curiously. "We could go in another time and work… umm…"

"Sure…"

Jay chewed on his lip. Cole wasn't talking much, and he wasn't talking much at the beginning of the day too. It felt just like the first few days of college all over again. Was Cole ignoring him? Even if he was, why would he?

They were friends now… right?

"Cole?"

"Mhmm?"

"Why are you being so quiet today?"

"I've just been thinking of some things…"

"What… things?"

"Huh, oh, uh doesn't matter. Last night was just a little… Sudden I guess..."

"You need a hug?" Jay offered with a smile on his face.

Cole laughed, shaking his head. "Hah, naw… but thanks…"

Jay gave him one anyways.

* * *

 **By the wasies, before I end this chapter, is any one of my readers a My Little Pony fan?** **Please answer ^^ I'd love to meet more MLP fans. And because I'd love to talk about the new music that came out this week. One more thing, I've got a new poll up!**

 **Anyways, chao!**


	12. Friends is a Start

**HEY! Yey! New chapter... to be honest, I really want to get back into updating this EVERY Thursday. But, that's too many chapters then what I had planned already... I may or may not, depending on the mood, update randomly on a Thursday not scheduled just because I needed/wanted to get that chapter out there, though.**

 **By the way, anyone seen the Day of the Departed trailer yet? Hyped!**

 **Anyways, "onwards Aoshima!" (Mabel Pines :3)**

* * *

Fall.

It had finally started, just about three to four weeks ago. Truth be told, the college campus looked… Pretty, when the leaves started changing colors. Jay even found himself visiting the cafè more often. Which ultimately lead to Jay becoming better friends with Kai, and getting to see Nya more often.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Jay heard Cole ask from behind him.

The ginger whirled around in his chair and shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Good point. I'm sure a person like you can survive anything with the power of positive thinking!"

Jay's face scrunched up and he looked at Cole, laughing. "That's _my_ line! Besides, it's only until tomorrow morning. You sound like I'll be here alone for the next week… Or month even!"

"Mm, you're right... I should probably ask Zane to come check on you just to make sure you don't trash the room with all your nerd stuff." Jay shot Cole a glare. "Kidding! Just don't screw up anything on my laptop or you're buying me a new one. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now go! You know all I'm doing is waiting for you to leave already!"

Before Cole closed the door, he looked at Jay between the small open crack. "Forgetting you already…"

"I'm forgetting you already too, _Dirtclod_ …"

The door came to a close and Jay dropped his head into his arms, closing his eyes. There was nothing to do, no one to talk to, nowhere to go… It was too early for stores to be open right now, well, other than for the cafe.

But no, he would get through the entire day. Like Cole said, he could survive anything with the power of positive thinking! Plus, Jay even had Cole's laptop for the day. It took weeks of persuading Cole that Jay wouldn't be any trouble when handling his laptop.

Opening the laptop, he stared at the screen and frowned at his reflection. Maybe he could just lie in bed for a couple of hours and try to sleep. After all, it _was_ 5 A.M in the morning; he didn't understand why he needed to wake up this early. Cole had insisted Jay to wake up that early just because he was leaving… _that early_.

 _Maybe_ he could call Nya and see if she was up. If the cafe was open and Kai was working, (which he was. Kai had told both Jay and Cole that he worked every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Ronin worked everyday.), then Nya should be up to. He picked up his phone and dialed her number. On the first day of the book club, Nya had handed out her number to everyone in case anyone needed immediate contact.

The phone rang a couple of times before heading straight to voicemail. Jay chewed on his bottom lip and tried again, but ended up on voicemail again. Putting his phone in his pocket, he closed the laptop, and out on a coat, walking out of the dorm.

When he reached the cafe, he saw Kai standing behind the counter in the middle of preparing a drink for another lady who was already in the room.

"Hey, Kai!"

The brunette's head perked up and he looked over his shoulder at Jay. "Hey, Jay! What are you doing here this early?"

"I was wondering if you saw Nya today… and where's Ronin?"

"Ronin's… at the store. And, sorry, haven't seen her yet. Probably asleep still or something. Did you need anything?"

 _Oh right, they didn't share a room._ "I tried calling her, but no one picked up. I'm bored, Kai. Bored to death. I don't have anything to do!"

"What about Cole? Isn't he usually with you?"

"Cole went on a trip back to his hometown. Something about an author coming to sign books and a meet and greet. He won't be back until tomorrow morning."

"Hah, oh well. Want anything while you're still here? It's chilly out…" Jay nodded. When his drink was finished, he took a seat on one of the stool like chairs and pulled out Cole's laptop. Cole had said no to carrying around something like that, but Jay didn't listen obviously. He would find something fun to do online while he waited. Hopefully, Nya would stop by and he could ask her about the walk he wanted to take.

"You got a laptop now?!" The ginger heard Kai gasp with wide eyes. "I know it's been awhile since the last game night, but we can finally play together!"

A part of Jay was laughing because Kai actually thought Jay had gone out and bought a laptop of his very own. But the other half was just bummed out, _because_ Kai thought it was his. "I wish. It's not mine. Cole let me borrow it for the day."

"Dude, you gotta save up some money for something of your own. Get a job!"

Kai was actually right. He didn't have a job. Everyone he knew had some sort of job. Even Cole had found a job just a few days ago as an employee at the bookstore they went to. _Cole and his books_ , Jay thought and rolled his eyes. That reminded him of the book he was supposed to read. The one they bought after filling in for Zane at the shelter.

He hadn't read anything. Nothing at all, and Cole was counting on him to read at least the first three chapters.

Suddenly, the door flew open and in walked Nya, her hair a mess.

"Woah, Sis, what _happened_ to you?" Kai snorted as he looked at Nya from top to bottom.

"I'm tired. That's all. Can you make me a drink? Lots of caffeine."

"Um, okay…" And with that, Kai got started right away.

Nya took a seat next to Jay, unaware that the male was even sitting there. After a few minutes of staring in space, she shook her head at Jay's _sudden appearance_ and jumped. "O-Oh, I didn't see you there… how ya doing, Jay?"

"Fine, I guess? Are you okay?" Jay watched as Nya rested her sleepy head in the palm of her hand, yawning.

"Mm, yeah. I stayed up really late last night… like I said, just... Tired…" she began as her head slowly began to slide off her hand, eyes closing.

 _There goes asking her for a walk._ Jay inhaled and fumbled with his fingers, finding the situation very… awkward. Nya sat there, her head bowing down and her eyes fully closed. Kai had finally finished her drink, but the other was too sleepy to even hear her own brothers loud voice, that Jay had to stand up and get the drink for her.

"Thanks, Jay…" Nya said as she took the drink from him.

"N-No problem," he stuttered. Jay slapped himself for doing that.

"So, how's fall?" _How's fall? Darn it, Jay! That sounds so stupid!_ Jay chuckled softly to himself, cheeks flushing with embarrassment as he stared intensely down at the table.

Putting down her cup, Nya turned to look at Jay with a brow arched high. "How's… fall? Good… I guess…"

"Heh, I meant, do you like it?"

"Hmm, yeah. It's not my favorite season, but it's pretty seeing all the leaves changing colors. I'm in a photography class and one of my favorite things to do in that class, is take photos of the changing leaves."

"Wow, that's cool!"

Nya smiled. "I could show you some pictures back at my dorm today if you want." Jay nodded happily. She took another long sip from her cup and released a happy sounding sigh. The bangs from her bob cut hair fell forward and covered her eyes as she stood up to throw the cup away. "I feel much better now. Thanks, Kai!"

"Anything for my Sis," Kai said with a wink as Nya motioned for Jay to follow her outside.

* * *

The door was pushed open and Nya cleared the way for Jay to walk into the dorm. The ginger set the laptop down on an open space on Nya's table and walked closer to the other.

Taking a seat, Nya pulled out her phone and faced the screen to Jay. "I usually transfer the best ones to my phone to share with others. Unlike my brother, who just likes to update on his life and whatnot."

But it wasn't the pictures that caught his eye. It was _him_.

"Um, Nya… why is… why is _Ronin_ in your photos?"

Nya tilted her head and looked back at her phone. When she saw Ronin in her pictures, she burst into laughter and put a hand to her face. "Oh yeah, I forgot he was there. Whenever Kai isn't available, I usually ask Ronin to come help me with photos and projects."

"Oh, ok." _No, not okay. It should be me! Not Ronin!_ Jay cleared his throat, clearing the thoughts from his head. "Soo… what other classes are you taking?"

"Fictional Writing," Nya said with a smile.

"Oh… I think Cole is taking that…"

"Really?! I remember him telling me how much he loves to read. He'll probably best me in the number of books read in a year in book club this year!"

Jay chuckled softly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well… I like to read too…"

"You like to read comics, Jay. Haven't you ever picked up a real book and just got so sucked into it, you couldn't stop?"

"Well… uh, well, I'm reading one right now! Yeah, it's called _Ginny of the Hills_ and um… yeah! It's like my own mini book club, but just with Cole."

"Well how is it so far? Is it good? I love new book recommendations."

The way Nya was looking up at Jay made his heart leap. But he couldn't lie to her again. It was… wrong.

"See, the thing is… I haven't exactly started.-"

"Really? How long have you had it?"

"Almost a month. I'm supposed to read at least three chapters by next week."

"So, Cole gave you all that time to read _three_ chapters? And you haven't done _anything_?" Jay shook his head. "How about, we head back to your dorm, and we can read. Just the two of us - as friends."

A little heartbroken, Jay nodded. However, at the same time, he felt thankful that Nya was willing to spend the time with him to help Jay catch up on his reading. He just hoped that someday, the two of them might get together sometime… or… like she said… just become good friends.

* * *

 **Yeaaah, sorry to break some jaya hearts. I'm not trying to go into a lot of romance in this... I may drop a few romantic things here and there, but as of now, I'm keeping everyone on the friends level. Plus, they don't _all_ know each other well yet, right? Also, I'm in the midst of reading _Fangirl_ by _Rainbow Rowell_ and it's great! Don't be surprised if you see references to the book hidden in any upcoming chapters ^^**

 **Also, as I was rereading this chapter for any errors, and I noticed I came up with _Ginny of the Hills_ \- didn't realize how similar that was to the MLP FiM version XD - _Hinny of the Hills_ ... I swear I wasn't even thinking of the MLP FiM version as I came up with that, in fact I was thinking of _Anne of the Green Gables_.**

 **I guess that's all I want to say for now until I end this chapter for good. See y'all in two weeks (or sooner if I update any other story)!**


	13. What Kind of Person Are You?

**Who's excited for Day of the Departed?!**

 **Okay, so important info in case some of you guys didn't catch it over the past few weeks. Canada gets DotD released THIS Friday! October 21st! So if you're waiting to watch it early, see if you can catch the YouTube release. Also, I think the UK gets it October 24th! And we get it October 29th! If you watch it early though, please refrain from spoilers. I know how hard it is for some impatient people.**

 **And if you do watch it early, try to watch it on TV too! It's a Halloween special everyone! Who DOESN'T want to see that on TV? Plus, we wanna give Ninjago great views and ratings when aired on television.**

 **In case you're wondering, I will not be atching it early; only on the 29th release.**

 **One other note: the Fold's new music releases next Friday at midnight! October 28th! I'm sure you've all heard the previews for the new songs. They are amazing! If you haven't yet, they're on Amazon! I fell in love with Close the Circle and can't wait for the full release!**

 **Alright, I'll stop talking now and let you all read the chapter ^^**

* * *

Cole had came back the next day with a stack of three books in his hands and groggy eyes, clearly tired from the drive back. Up till lunchtime, Cole had slept on his bed without even saying a single word to Jay about the event before shut eye. So, Jay dedicated the time to call up Nya and see if she was up.

Of course, as Jay expected, Nya wasn't up. That or she just didn't answer the call.

When Cole woke up, Jay rushed to the side of the bed and looked down on him. "How was the trip?"

"Oh, uh, it was okay… yeah…"

Jay raised a brow and stepped aside as Cole stood up from bed. "You came back with three books in your hand, anything you want to share about that? Cause I have some stuff to share too."

"Oh, well, the author, she was super nice and I had fun meeting her in person. Not much happened, really. I got her to sign my book, and bought three more from her newest series to read… so what did you do?"

"Weeellll, I saw Nya again - oh! And I finished the first _five_ chapters of our book! Didn't expect _that_ did ya?" Jay teased as he poked Cole's shoulder. The older male didn't know whether he should've been surprised or happy. It was clear Jay didn't read all five chapters himself.

"Did you get Nya to read for you?"

Jay's lips formed a thin line and he folded his arms. "Yeah. But not really… We took turns reading."

"Liar."

"Fine. - it still counts though doesn't it? It's like an audiobook. Only, in my room, and she's real."

"Hmm, alright sure, why not?" Cole said with a shrug. "Wanna grab some lunch?"

* * *

There was a taco place nearby the pet shelter. And since Jay loved tacos (and burritos), he practically begged Cole to have tacos instead of burgers for lunch.

When he was younger, he always loved to grab tacos for lunch from his favorite taco restaurant in the world - _Taco Tots_! Unfortunately, there wasn't a _Taco Tots_ anywhere near their college campus. So, Jay was forced to try a new kind of taco, from a new place. Not that he didn't like trying new things.

"So, first you choose frozen yogurt over ice cream, and then you want burgers over tacos?! What kind of person are you?!" Jay asked Cole as he flailed his arms dramatically. Cole opened the door and laughed as Jay walked into the restaurant first.

"A normal person."

"What kind of normal person doesn't like ice cream?"

"Ice cream's more solidified compared to yogurt. And there's even a place to create your own mix of yogurt! Better than ice cream if you ask me."

Jay flared his nostrils and took a seat at a table, resting his head in the palm of his hands. "Yeah, well, since you're the one who doesn't like tacos, you're going to pay for lunch." He then pointed to an item on the menu, but since it was pretty far from where they were sitting, Cole had to squint to try and catch what he was pointing at.

Still not able to read the sign, he shook his head and looked to Jay. "I can't see it. Why can't you just come up and order it yourself?"

"You nearsighted or something? Soft beef taco with a side of tater tots and churros. _With_ a medium size soft drink. Number 12 on the menu."

Cole rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands in his pockets before walking away. He had gotten used to Jay's way of doing things. But the one thing he liked the most, was how optimistic he always was. Every single day, Cole would always see Jay with a smile on his face; he smiled to every person they passed, like it costed nothing at all, and like Jay could do it all day. It was like he never ran out of a friendly smile to make someone's day.

In the dorm, however, was when Jay would start ranting and ranting, and freaking, and talking about Nya, and lying down on the bed, holding out a single note until he fell asleep.

"Is it, tater tots? Or mexi-fries?" Cole asked as he set down the tray of food, taking a seat across from Jay.

"I dunno," Jay answered with a simple shrug and reached for his taco, opening the wrapper. Taking a large bite out of the burrito shaped meal, Jay beamed, and opened his mouth to start talking. With his mouth full. "But what I do know, is that this taco is good!"

"Weren't you ever taught table manners? Don't talk with your mouth full," Cole said as he stole a churro from the box.

Jay's nostrils flared and he swallowed, glaring at Cole. "That's _my_ churro."

" _I_ paid for all of this."

"Then why am _I_ eating something you paid for?" Jay pointed to the taco with a smug grin.

"Fair enough. But I still get some of the churro; they aren't all yours."

"You get the tater tots. They're healthier."

"Shouldn't you be saying that to yourself?"

"Less talking, more eating!"

* * *

"You know what I love about Fall?" Jay began as the two of them entered a costume store. "This!" Jay threw his arms up in the air, motioning all the costumes around him, his eyes growing larger.

Cole enjoyed Halloween when he was younger, but when he entered high school, he had lost interest in dressing up and trick-or-treating for candy. That was when he began to stay behind and hand out candy to the kids that came by. "You still dress up?"

Jay flinched.

He turned around and grabbed Cole by the shoulders, shaking with all the strength he could muster. "Like I said before… WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE YOU?!"

"Okay, okay," Cole said, waving Jay off. "Didn't mean to do that to ya. It's not like _everyone_ in the entire world can always find something to dress up as for Halloween. Besides, I grew out of it about eight years ago…"

"You didn't even dress up?"

"No."

"What do you do then? Sit and watch TV?"

"Of course not, I hand out treats to the kids that pass by." Jay frowned and pulled Cole across the next few isles. "Where are we going?"

"We're in a costume store, for crying out loud, _Dirtclod_! Where else?!"

Cole rolled his eyes. "I know that, _Zaptrap_ , I'm not an idiot. But where in this store are you taking me?"

Jay was crazy fast, which was something Cole had thought wrong about. Jay didn't seem like the athletic kid who always participated in school sports, he was the nerdy one. And since Jay's speed was unbelievably fast, Cole couldn't seem to keep up. He stumbled over his own feet as Jay zipped through the costumes.

"Jay, slow down!"

"Don't have to," he said boldly as he halted to a stop, throwing Cole off balance. "We're here!"

Cole gripped onto one of the racks and steadied himself, putting a hand against his hip. "Okay, first, there are costumes _everywhere_! They fill up this entire store! So why did we need to go all the way back here? And second, you're really fast, but you need to slow down. I almost fell."

"I honestly thought you would be able to keep up with me, but I guess I was wrong. Anyways… Ta-Da!" Jay pulled two costumes off the racks and flashed them in Cole's face.

The black-haired made a face of disgust as he stared at the costumes. Jay took note of his reaction, and looked over the bags. "What? Is it the hat? You could always switch it out with another one here. Or maybe -"

"Jay…"

"Yeah?"

"What the heck?! We're in college! …"

"Yeah, so?" Jay started to look at Cole in question.

"I just… Halloween is for kids! _Little_ kids! They dress up, show off costumes to their friends, go to Halloween parties, and go door to door just to get free candy. I just… No. I'm not dressing up for Halloween. I haven't been doing that since ninth grade and I plan to keep it that way… You understand, right?"

"N-No it's not. I dress up every year. You don't have to trick-or-treat. You could just dress up for fun, and have fun with your friends. Plus… Free candy isn't a bad thing. Maybe you just haven't felt the Halloween spirit in you anymore? Eight years, you said? We could dress up! And hang out with Kai and Nya and everyone else on Halloween night! It'll be fun!"

Cole licked his dry lips. He noticed Jay swallow. He could tell that Jay was just trying to help Cole out. But, he didn't need any help. Or did he?

"Please?" He heard Jay say. "We don't have to dress up as this," Jay started as he put the sources back on the rack. "We could do something else, I just want to do something fun that includes the two of us... Like, peanut butter and jelly!"

Cole's shoulders jerked up and started to laugh. He wanted to laugh until the day ended. He wanted to laugh for the rest of the week. He wanted to laugh forever.

He hadn't remembered ever laughing this hard since his first year in high school, when the teacher did a flip in the air and accidentally turned off the fire alarm. And when they all reached the field, some student had carried a pie they had baked from Foods class out with them. Things got interesting from there.

But from what Cole could remember, that was the last day he ever got a good laugh. Every other day was just a chuckle or two, and as he grew older, he began to notice more of life's struggles coming right at him. Everything was a daily routine from then on. Even his friends had their own priorities set in mind, that he felt all alone in school.

"What's so funny?" Jay asked and he felt the urge to laugh along with him.

"You're an idiot… You know that right?"

Jay snorted. "Get it all the time."

* * *

 **Hope you all enjoyed that! And I'm also working on a few oneshots, one of them My Little Pony. So feel free to read that one if you want too.**

 **Feel free to drop a review ^^**


	14. It's Not December Yet

**Welp this is a little later update than usual but it's still Thursday! Also, quick note, I absolutely love the holidays so expect the upcoming chapters to have some holiday themes and just be holiday/season related. *wink***

 **What'd everyone think of Day of the Departed? Anyone get snow yet or is said to get snow soon? We haven't gotten [a lot of ] snow here for a few years now and I really just want snow!**

* * *

"Whatcha doin?" Jay asked as he poked his head over Cole's shoulder, eyes skimming over the papers sprawled all over Cole's desk. He caught a sheet with a full map, or web, on it. Cole sure knew how to plan, everything on the map was neatly organized and he color coded the little details too. _He sure has great handwriting_ , Jay thought.

"Trying to figure out how to start my story," Cole replied and fiddled with his pen, a paper to the side for doodling. Jay glanced over the art, but had to pick up the paper to get a better look.

"Did you do _all_ of this?"

"Um, yeah. Could you put that back down, please? A little drawing on the side helps me focus better." Cole pulled the paper closer towards him after Jay set it back on the table.

Jay walked across the room and pulled his chair over by Cole, sitting on it so that his chest was pressed against the back. He swirled around to face the same direction as Cole and rested his chin on his arms, which were crossed on top of the backrest.

"What's the story for?"

Shuffling through the papers, Cole pointed at one that was colored yellow. "Fictional Writing. We have to come up with a short story, at least three to four pages. I got some ideas down," Cole began as he waved the maps in Jay's face, "but I'm not sure if I want to use those ideas. It just feels too boring."

"Why don't you just write about something that happened to you?"

"It's supposed to be a _fictional_ story, Jay. Not an personal narrative."

"Lemme me help. I always have crazy dreams, must mean I'm just too creative, huh?" Jay pulled a pencil from Cole's pencil pouch, as he smiled at Cole. "But-"

Quickly, Cole snatched the pencil from Jay's hand, preventing him from starting any writing. "But what?"

"Will you help me go over my short play tonight? Kai already agreed to help, but I need one more person for this last character. I mean, if you don't want to that'd be fine, but well, that'd be an extra person in this dorm… And I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want that."

Cole sighed. He knew what Jay was trying to do. He didn't like it, but he sure didn't like the idea of having people over in the dorm at night. He nearly burst into laughter when he saw Jay's pleading face.

"Fine. Who am I playing?"

Reaching over to the other side of the room, Jay picked up a copy of the script and skimmed over the first few pages. "You… Are… Nicole!"

"Wait - what?! I'm a girl? Don't you have a guy character left?"

"Nope… Come on! I just need one more character. Please? It's only just this once."

 _Just this once_ , Cole repeated those words as he stared at Jay. The younger roommate cleared his throat, waiting for an answer. _It can't be that bad. Just one night and that's all. Even though Jay hasn't been been able to keep his word lately._

"When's it due?"

"Tomorrow. So you won't have to worry about me bringing it up again after tonight. Promise."

" _Promise?_ "

" _Promise_."

"Now, any ideas for that short story of mine?"

"How about something like a preview from a longer story! That way it doesn't really matter if it makes sense or not!"

"I don't get it."

"For example. You could write an action scene, coming from a longer work of fiction that you never wrote. Maybeeee…" Jay grabbed the pencil back out of Cole's hand and pulled over a piece of paper, and started writing.

 _He was face to face with the man. The one who tried to destroy his family, the one who murdered his parents, the one who took away his best friend. His hand found his way to the hilt of the sword hanging from his hip._

 _"Get. Out." He growled through gritted teeth._

 _The man's eyes flickered and he laughed, the sound of his voice echoing in the young hero's ear._

 _"Make me. You think you're so heroic, dancing your past my guards and making it to me, so you can what - save your pathetic little friend here? You're not going anywhere; I have you right where I want you - can't be in two places at once, can we now?"_

 _The boy's head perked._

 _"What?"_

 _"Oh, you didn't know? I bet your family is just_ dying _to see you…"_

Cole picked up his paper, and read it over it twice. "Wow, Jay… That's … Really good! Other than that cheesy overused line, but, wow! You should've signed up for my class, if your dreams and writings are as crazy good as this, then -"

"Eheheh, I don't like writing. That's why I didn't sign up. Who knows, maybe you could start a full on story based off what I wrote there…"

"Jay, this is great. I mean, I'll have to make a few more edits and make it just a tad bit longer, but, this is amazing!"

The ginger punched Cole's arm playfully. "You're welcome."

* * *

"Sugar cakes."

"No no! What was that?! This is acting not reading directions to someone! You can do better than that."

Jay sat in his chair, with an arm folded across his chest and his other arm holding the script out in front of him. "Try to act in character? Pleaaaasseee!"

Cole flipped through the script again, his lips pursed. In all honesty, he regretted agreeing to help Jay practice his play assignment. "Do I have to act out, Nicole?"

"You already agreed to play her," Jay said with a playful punch to the arm. "Besides, if you were a girl I'm sure you would've been named Nicole anyways - or Colleen. So it's basically a gender bent you!"

"Riiiight…" Cole bit his lip and took a seat on the bed.

As Cole fumbled with his script, Jay headed for the door, opening it slightly to look outside into the hallway. Kai should be on his way soon. He was going to play Jason's friend, whom was the character Jay was playing, plus the narrator. Jay started to tap his foot impatiently.

"Relax, Jay. It's not the final project yet. Just a practice. And I'm sure before you actually perform it in front of the class, you'll get some time to rehearse," Cole told him.

Jay moved away from the door slowly. "You're right. I have nothing to worry about. But, I've never even gone over the entire script! I didn't even write it! So I have no clue what we're doing in it!"

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door and Jay quickly rushed to open it. Kai stood there, looking as if he had just woken up. His usual red hoodie was hanging awkwardly over his body and his pants sagged down till they reached past his feet.

"Sorry I'm late. I was taking a nap and I didn't hear my alarm go off."

Jay opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Cole beat him to it.

"No worries. We haven't officially started yet; just going over some stuff, right, Jay?"

Jay simply nodded. "Right." He then found himself staring into space, his mind empty. He forgot what he was going to do next. Cole waited, and arched a brow. Finally, Jay cleared his throat. "Um, yeah, here's your script, Kai." He picked up a copy from his desk and handed it to the brunette.

"So I'm playing Matt?"

Jay nodded again.

Cole held up a hand causing Jay and Kai to turn their attention to him. "Woah, why couldn't I play, Matt?"

"Ugh! Because Matt was already taken and because Nicole sounds like Cole. Now everyone stop asking questions and let's… Just… Do a quick run through. I have to do this is front of the teacher _and_ class tomorrow. So I don't want to screw up."

"And you waited till the last minute to actually do this?"

Jay's face heated with embarrassment and he gave Cole a loud 'humph!'. Waving the script in the air, Jay started.

* * *

A week had flown by and it was the first week of November already. The weather was getting colder and colder and Jay and Cole had started hanging around the cafe more often with Kai. However, right now, they were at a grocery store, picking up some things for Nya.

She had asked that the two of them grab some things for both her _and_ Kai, actually.

While they were down there, Jay noticed that holiday decor and lights were already up on the shelves.

"I'm so excited for winter break!" He said as he picked up a box of lights.

Cole stopped the cart and looked to Jay. "We still have over a month to go, Jay. And what do you need the lights for right now? It's not even December."

Jay shrugged. "Doesn't mean I can't buy stuff early. Hey-" he raised a fist when Cole took the box out of his hands and placed it back on the shelf.

"Wait till Black Friday. It'll probably go on sale."

"Just a couple extra bucks doesn't hurt. I'm buying it." He reached around Cole and dumped the box into the cart. "Plus, Black Friday is chaotic, I don't wanna step into that mess."

"Too bad, I was planning to do some shopping on that day. After all, it is closer to the holiday season."

Walking over to the cart, Jay pulled out the lights and grumbled, setting the box back on the shelf. He folded his arms and waited for Cole to start pushing the cart.

"Wh _a_ t? I didn't do anything!"

Jay looked away and muttered a few words Cole couldn't make out. Instead, he just laughed and pat Jay on the back, pushing him forward.

"Come on, we gotta only got three more things left on the list. Then how bout we stop by the cafe again?"

And as if lighting had just struck Jay, he jumped around, a big smile on his face.

"Sure!"


	15. Thank You?

**Oh golly oh gosh! SORRY for the extremely late chapter! Ever since the dates gotten closer and closer to Moana it's pulled me away from everything! And literally everything! That's _all_ I've been talking and thinking about these past weeks! I'm just soooooo excited!**

 **And the new music came out today and agh! Haha and yes I will be seeing it the day it comes out because I'm that excited.**

 **Also, since this isn't like Wattpad where authors can leave notes to their readers, please check my profile daily for some news! Right now, I have a few dates on when Unlikely will be updated, cause December is going to be a bit wonky. PLEASE!**

* * *

Jay gave a big whiff, taking in the scent of coffee that filled the air. He relaxed back into the cushion, falling into a slouching position. He was dead tired. He stayed up almost all night talking with his parents. They didn't seem the slightest bit tired, all they did was yap and yap. The last thing he told them, was a promise that he'd come home for winter break.

"You didn't get enough sleep again?" Cole's voice was loud and clear and it jerked Jay into a sitting position. He rubbed his eyes and gazed around the café tiredly.

"Kai put this together for you."

Looking up, he saw Cole handing him a paper cup, one to hold lattes and hot beverages. Jay took the cup from Cole and smiled, putting the cup to his lips.

"Ah, ha ha ha, hee, it's so good."

Cole sat down across from Jay, setting down his own drink on the small table between them. "You bet. Honestly, whenever Ronin makes us drinks, they're pretty bland, but when Kai makes them…"

"Hey, hey, hey…" Kai said from the back and started walking up to the two. "He's right, Ronin's drinks are crap. And I _still_ don't know why they haven't fired him yet. The customers that get drinks from him just walk out after a sip. I dunno what they do with their drinks, but I saw one guy throw it away once. Heh, what a waste."

"Where is Ronin anyways?"

Kai shrugged. "I dunno. _Somewhere_."

Jay shrugged back. He pulled out his phone and checked his calendar, counting the weeks they had before winter break. "Anyways, you doing anything for winter break, Kai?"

"Well, Nya and I are heading back to visit our parent's house... Technically our house. We'll probably be gone the entire break, and by the looks of it, you probably had something in mind… To do… With my sis."

"Heh, yeeeaaah. I was actually planning to ask her to go ice skating."

"Sorry, bud, Nya can't skate."

"She can learn, can't she?" Asked Cole.

"Well, er, yeah, but she has a thing against skating. IIIIttt'sss a long story. So what have you guys got planned?"

"I'm visiting my parents too!" Jay spoke first before taking a few more sips from his latte. Kai turned his head to Cole.

"I'm probably going to see my Dad?"

"What do you mean _probably_?"

Cole lifted an arm to scratch the back of his neck. "He isn't home most of the time; that's kinda how I lived most of the time, ever since high school. He leaves and comes back really late. Music business…"

Jay looked to Cole. He didn't notice him staring, which didn't really bother Jay; but he felt sorry for him. He wondered if this happened every year. He watched as Kai sat down on the table. Jay chewed on his bottom lip. He'd find a way to make this year great for Cole.

"Sorry bout that," Kai told Cole, his feet slightly swinging above the ground.

"Thanks, but it's not a big deal. I hope it snows this year…"

* * *

When they were back in the dorm, Jay collapsed onto his bed and sighed of relief. The coffee had done its part to wake Jay up a bit more, but he was still a little tired. The nice thing was, because they visited the cafe so often, Kai started giving them their drinks for free.

He wasn't supposed to, but no one was there to tell him to not to.

Sitting up in bed, Jay stretched his legs and arms and grabbed his jacket from the edge of his bed. He stood up, and headed over to the door, looking back over his shoulder at Cole.

"Come on!"

"Uh, come where? We just got back."

"We're going shopping!"

"What now? You already got your holiday lights last week, what else do you need?"

He shrugged and opened the door, motioning for Cole to follow. "Just come on!"

"It's not even December yet! The holiday season _officially_ starts after Thanksgiving."

Grabbing a hold of Cole's arm, Jay pulled him outside and shut the door. "You're not fun. Let's at least go to the bookstore, and then stop by somewhere for me to get a new coat. Cause I need a new coat."

"Since when are you interested in going to the bookstore?"

"Not for me. For you, cause you like books."

Cole sighed and pointed at their room. "I left my coat inside, lemme go grab that and I'll be right out."

* * *

 _THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, PURCHASE $25 WORTH OF STORE BOOKS, MOVIES, COLLECTIBLES, ETC. GET A FREE $50 GIFT CARD. In store only. Deal ends December 20th._

"I guess the holiday season is just starting…" Cole spoke as he stared at the flyer.

"Hwah, and I thought I was the dumb one - OW!" Jay yelped and rubbed his arm gently. He never liked it when Cole punched him in the arm, sure it was meant to be playful, but sometimes, _lots_ of times, it hurt. A lot a lot.

Jay wasn't thinking of buying any presents just yet, although he did already have a list of people in mind. There were his parents, Nya, Kai, Zane, definitely Zane, a few other people he met the past few months, and Cole. Too bad Nya couldn't skate, he was really hoping they could… bond more. He smiled at the thought and opened the door, letting Cole walk in first.

Once Cole was inside, Jay quickly ran in and away from the doors. It was freezing outside, but inside, it was incredibly warm.

"I'm starting to wish it was spring," Jay said as he brushed past Cole, hugging his arms.

"Yeah, it's _super_ cold outside. At least we didn't walk here, right?"

Jay nodded. After all, Cole was… sort of right. They had taken a bus down here, and the only way to get back, was to go by bus, which meant they could either wait at the bus stop, freezing their arms and legs off, or run to catch it at the last minute. That was unless one of them called for a ride.

Cole walked over to a shelf that read _New Releases_ and picked up one of the books. It was one of those small, thick… pocket books. Jay shrugged and walked to the other end of the shelf, none of the books interesting him. It was always so hard to find a great book nowadays. It was as if these current authors couldn't come up with a great plot.

Or, maybe it was just him and his lack of interest in books.

The last time he found a good book, he couldn't get it from the bookstore or the library, not even an eBook. Weeks passed and he completely forgot about that book. A thought came to mind and he decided to search for the book.

He couldn't exactly remember the title, but he had somewhat of an idea.

Almost half an hour passed and he still hadn't found anything. A part of him was telling him to give up looking, but the other half said to keep searching, even if he ended up empty handed. Sighing, he moved onto the next shelf and continued searching.

"Whatcha doing?"

Jay whirled around, startled.

"Looking… For a book. What else do you think I'm doing?"

"Just walking around clueless. After all, you don't like books, right? Might I suggest, if you're looking for a certain book, to search under the genre it might fall under..." Cole said with a smirk. "Also, when are we leaving?" He was leaning against one of the shelves with his legs cross. Jay pursed his lips and turned back around, muttering.

" _Great_ advice, although I think I knew that already... And… I dunno…"

Cole folded his arms and hung his head. "I wanna eat something, not hang around here for another, what, half an hour? How far are you in the book for the book club?"

Jay shrugged, growing tired every second. "I dunno…"

"'I dunno'? ... You haven't started since last week, have you?"

"Can we _not_ talk about the book club? Every time a book is mentioned you _always_ bring it up! I'm sure you have something better to talk about then the book club." Jay's brows drew inwards as he gazed over the books.

"Okay, fine. But -"

"SHUSH!"

Jay's hand slapped over Cole's mouth and he glared right at him, shaking his head slowly.

Cole nodded in reply, and brought Jay's hand down. "Can I just…?" Jay eyed Cole carefully as he reached over Jay's shoulder. The ginger opened his mouth to speak but was smacked upside the head.

"I hate you."

"So do I. Now, do you mind?" Cole asked as he pointed at the exit.


	16. Jay on Ice

**Yay! Finally a new chapter! I actually started an Unlikely oneshot last week! So feel free to check that out if you haven't! And to all you Moana fans out there, I'll be going back to see it for a second time as a bday gift sometime this week! So yay!**

 **I bet y'all recognize the chapter name too XD. Yes I finally got to starting YURI on Ice and it is amazing!**

 **Anyways, you all waited, and I came back, now here's your chapter...**

* * *

"Winter!" Jay shouted as he rushed to the dorm window, staring outside.

Rolling out of bed, Cole rubbed his tired eyes and brushed the hair from his eyes. He looked to his roommate, who still stood by the window, his chin rested in the palm of his hands.

"Are you gonna do this _every_ morning?"

"I haven't been doing this _every_ morning!"

"Uh yes, you have, actually. For the past _week_."

Cole stretched his arms and legs as Jay rushed to his backpack. "You heading out right now?" He asked while Cole started brushing his hair. "It's only 7:30, your first class doesn't start till eight right?"

Cole nodded, setting the brush down. He turned around to see Jay already dressed up, ready to head outside. Even his hair looked perfect. "Ready yet?"

"No, Jay…" Cole said with a sigh and started to undress. Jay whistled and marched around the room, staring at the floor. "Is there any snow out?"

Jay shook his head. "I wish there was. I haven't played in the snow since forever!"

"Neither have I. But with snow, there comes ice. And when there's ice, there's always some sort of disaster."

" _Or_ ice skating. Hey! We should go as a whole group to the ice skating ring! Me, you, Kai, Nya, Zane, and Lloyd!" Jay tightened the scarf around his neck and watched as Cole threw on a jacket. "It'll be fuuuuun!"

"I haven't skated in forever…" Cole said as he bit his lip, tying his shoelaces. After, he stood up and hoisted his backpack over his shoulders, heading for the door. Jay followed behind him.

"Well then… whaddya say?"

Closing the door, Cole stopped to think for a minute before walking again. He noticed from the corner of his eyes that Jay was pleading to him, attempting the puppy dog eyes. They both knew it wasn't going to work.

With a sigh, Cole shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Jay waved to Cole as the older one walked inside his classroom. Jay always made it a habit to wave to everyone before they parted ways. Considering the fact Jay did this every day to Cole, Cole never noticed and closed the door, leaving a slightly saddened Jay.

...

Turning around, Jay hummed to himself as he walked to his first class.

It was the second to last day before winter break started and Jay was hoping to find everyone doing lunch time today, or anytime, and ask about the skating thing. He had told himself to quit thinking about Nya all the time. Besides, the world wasn't revolved around her. And Jay needed to focus, especially since he had a few finals just this week and last week.

There was a buzz in his pocket.

Jay pulled out his phone and stared at the incoming message.

 _library during lunch. tell Kai and the others too_

Sent from Cole.

* * *

 **A few days later**

It took quite a bit of effort to dragging Nya to go ice skating with them, but Kai managed to bring her along. He mentioned something about a gift to Nya if she went skating with them.

Jay, being the most excited one of the group, had planned to leave at the earliest time, even if it meant he and Cole were the first ones there. The ice skating rink wasn't that far from the college campus.

Tying his skates on, Jay sat down at one of the open tables and swung his feet as they hovered above the ground.

"I'm excited. What about you?"

"I guess, yeah…" Cole replied as he sat down next to Jay. "It's cold out here," Cole finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Well, I don't like skating indoors. Besides, fresh air is always great right?!"

Cole nodded in response, smiling. "Totally."

The two of them chatted for the next five to ten minutes, as people passed them heading in and out of the rink.

Finally they heard footsteps and panting coming from behind them, getting louder as the source of the sound got closer.

"Hey! We're here!"

Jay turned around and raised his arm as he waved at Kai and the others. "Took ya long enough," Jay told him with a wink.

"Hard time getting Nya out of the house," Kai said as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at his older sister.

Nya folded her arms, shaking her head.

"Ready to head in?" She asked everyone.

Once they stepped onto the ice, Kai was gripping onto the rails, slowly gliding alongside it. Lloyd was slightly better than Kai, however he skated beside Kai in case the auburn haired felt like he was about to slip again. After all, the ice was more dangerous than regular roller skating (indoors).

Zane, on the other hand, seemed to be a natural. He was already further ahead of them, skating away with his hands clasped behind his back in a formal manner.

Jay smirked. "Wow, he sure didn't need practice…"

Nya looked up at Zane as he started a circle.

"Yeah… he's pretty good…" she rubbed the back of neck, her hand getting warmer when she stuffed it between the scarf and skin.

Jay looked to Nya and outstretched his arm, grinning nervously. At first, Nya shook her head and tried to go at it on her own, but she found herself struggling to keep her balance and she gripped both of Jay's hands, using it as a boost to keep her standing up straight.

Jay chuckled softly as he looked into Nya's eyes. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah… thanks. This is… a little difficult for me…"

She held on to Jay's hands for a while as she attempted moving her legs in place.

"Why don't you like skating that much?" Jay asked her.

"Well, um… I tried once. When I was five… it was just regular skates… w-ahh!" She yelped as her legs started gliding side to side on the slippery ice. "Heh… I fell, and just gave up…"

" _That's_ it? It's not like you got hit by a car. If something like that happened, _I_ would stop skating. But everybody falls _sometimes_."

"I give up too easily. That's what Kai tells me. Usually when I find something I'm really good at, then I continued doing it… but when I fail…"

Jay frowned. " _Everybody_ fails! You gotta stop giving up so easily… I'm gonna start skating a bit, you hang here by the rail if ya need too."

"Okay, good idea…" Nya said as she quickly moved her hands from Jay to the railing.

The ginger took off and glided towards Cole, who was skating standing in the middle of Zane, who was skating circles around him.

"Heeeeey! Whatcha y'all doing here?"

Zane broke his circle and slid towards Jay. "Thank you for inviting me, Jay."

"Hey, no prob, Bob!"

Zane tilted his head and pursed his lips, looking at Jay funny. "It's... Zane…"

Jay opened his mouth to speak, but later closed it, waving his hand. "Eh, nevermind… You okay back there, Cole?" He shouted over Zane's shoulder, holding a thumbs up in question.

"Yup! All good!" Cole said back.

He skated a few rounds as Jay and Zane talked a bit. Though, as Cole moved around the rink, he noticed children with their families, big smiles on their faces. They seemed to be enjoying it a lot. The children were holding onto their parents hands and giggling as they went along.

Cole slowly came to a stop and he watched as the children passed by, causing Cole's stomach to form a knot.

He let out a mournful sigh and skated to the rim of the rink, leaning against it. He hadn't shared moments like that with his father for a long time. Especially since his mother passed away.

The memories he did share with his father were all but a blur. They were all so long ago it was hard to remember everything. If only his father had stepped away from his musical business for once to spend some quality time with him. Even the holiday season.

He caught sight of Jay skating to him from the corner of his eyes.

"What?"

"You were fine just before, what's going on?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. It's all good."

Jay followed Cole's eyes as he watched a family pass by.

"Are you still upset?"

"Upset…? About what?"

"About your dad not coming home for Christmas."

"Listen, Jay… All that talk was last week, and, besides, it's been like this every year… I'm used to it."

"Have you ever celebrated Christmas with him?"

"Well, yeah. Maybe once or twice… Listen, I dunno, my memory's a bit fuzzy and that was a long time ago."

"What are you gonna do for winter break?"

"I'll… Probably just stay here, and relax a bit. I mean, it's not like everyday I get the dorm room to myself." Cole said with a laugh and ran a hand through his hair, sighing softly.

Jay leaned against the rail next to Cole and stared at his feet. They fell quiet for a bit as Cole's thoughts wandered here and there. Then, finally, Jay pulled Cole into a side hug, smiling.

Cole opened his mouth and put his hands on top of Jay's arms, as a signal for them to drop down.

"Jay…"

"I thought you needed one. And I decided, that I'm not going home to my parents this winter break. I'm staying right here. With you."

In less then a second, Cole pushed Jay away and shook his head furiously. "Did I hit my head? Or did you just say what I think you said?"

"Depends. What did you hear me say?"

"That you're staying here. For winter break."

"Then I'm glad to say, you didn't hit your head!"

"Jay," Cole started, "as much as I [sort of] enjoy hanging around you, I don't think you should give up visiting your parents for me! And I'm not sure I'd like to hang around you for three whole weeks." Cole added under his breath. Shaking his head, he continued, "like I said, I'll be _fine_ , it's happened every year now, I got nothing to worry about."

"But Cole! Don't you ever feel alone?"

"What?" Cole put a hand to his face and groaned. "What - I… No of course not! I've lived through at least 10 years without him… I'm _not_ alone!"

"Then, who else is with you?"

Cole froze and kept his hand over his face.

"You keep saying you're fine, that you've gone your whole life like this… Just let me stay, Cole. At least, for once, spend the holidays with someone other than just yourself. Besides, there _is_ another way we can do this _without_ me staying here for winter break…"

* * *

 **FYI that there will be a chapter _next_ week, and the week after just three days before Christmas Day! Then I will resume again on January 5th.**

 **Ciao!**


	17. You Gotta Do the Cooking by the Book

**This chapter is pretty long and I enjoyed writing it actually ^^ just some bonding moments between the two. Aha and guess what? When I went back to see Moana again, I thought I wasn't going to get all emotional again, but I did, and I hated myself for doing that because darn Disney knows how to tug at your heartstrings! Honestly, Moana is just beautiful! If you haven't seen it I encourage you to see it ASAP!**

* * *

Needless to say, Jay _was_ taking Cole to the Walker house to spend the break. It was either that or Cole spend three weeks with Jay, stuck in the same stuffy dorm, the same college campus, and the same small town.

They left on the fourth day of winter break.

A few days before, Jay had gone around, handing out his gifts to Kai, Nya, Lloyd, and Zane. Surprisingly, Zane had gotten the two of them a couple of gifts too. A gift card for Cole, and a Starfarer designed water bottle for Jay.

Nya had also bought Jay a small gift, it was a keychain for his bag that was in the shape of a circle, with the words: _endless, just like friendship_ engraved onto it.

Back in the present, Jay heard Cole groan from beside him at the sound of a honking car. The older folded his arms across his chest and frowned, staring at the back of the car in front of them.

"Why's the car even honking?! We're not even moving! We're just stuck in traffic!"

"Because people are crazy. You look back in the past, you see, a - people killing other people, b - people becoming tyrants and losing their minds, and c - animals living their peaceful lives while we suffer."

"But if you think about, animals kill each other too."

"Yeah, well, it's only for survival needs. Uuuunleeeess they can communicate like we do. That'd be a little weird though…"

Cole shook his head in annoyance and reached for the radio. "Pay attention to the road, will ya?"

"Okay, okay. But I _promise_ , cross my heart, that I will make this Christmas the best one ever! You won't have to worry about me breaking anymore promises… I swear it."

* * *

The door opened and Edna stood there, all bundled up with a large smile on her face. Her eyes fell on Jay and she pulled him into a hug. A small gasp escaped from Jay as his mother pressed him against her, holding him tightly.

"Heh, glad too see you too, Mom!" Jay said in response to the long hug.

Suddenly, Jay heard his father's voice. "Ah, Edna? Where - Jay!" Ed ran up to the front and joined in a group hug, making Jay even more uncomfortable. "Oh, I missed ya kiddo! How've ya been?"

"Uh, g-great - can I get some air, please?"

"Oh, right!" The two parents laughed as they took a few steps back, Ed, wrapping an arm around Edna. Their gazes shifted from Jay to Cole, who was nothing but a stranger to them. Cole caught notice and waved with a lopsided grin. "Who's this fellow, son?" Ed asked, tilting his head in the direction of Cole.

Jay slid to the left and slung an arm around Cole, "Mom, Dad, this is, Cole! My roommate!"

It took a few seconds for their gears to finally click, and at that last second, Edna walked forward and shook Cole's hand. "How're ya, Cole? Ooh, your hand is pretty cold, maybe you two would like to come in now." Jay replied with a nod and the two of them stepped inside the house.

"Cole's staying here for the break! So it's gonna be a few nights," Jay told his parents as they motioned for the duo to take a seat on the couch. Cole sat down, leaning more towards the right, propping an arm up, while Jay sat closer to the left side of the couch. Jay turned to Cole. "Our house is pretty small, so we don't really have an extra room. You could sleep down here on the couch…?"

"Jay, dear, we wouldn't want our guest sleeping on the couch!" Edna turned to Cole. "Dontcha worry, we've got an extra mattress we can pull out. Jay's room is big enough to put it in there."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

"So, how bout some hot chocolate, ey?"

Once they left, the room fell silent and Jay drummed his fingers against his thigh quietly. He looked over to Cole, who sat in silence, staring at the space in front of him.

"Hey," Jay said. He waited for a response, but none came. "So… what do you think? … Of my parents? I mean my house, well, both. My parents _and_ my house. That's a little weird, heh…"

Without turning to look at Jay, Cole spoke, his voice a little softer than usual. "Yeah, they're really nice… your parents…"

Jay fell into a slouching position, saddened at how little Cole had said to him. "Whatcha thinking about?"

Before Cole could answer, Jay's parents were back, with a tray holding four mugs, steam floating from the top. Cole reached forward to take a mug, and lifted it close to his face, inhaling the sweet scent. Jay eyed Cole from the corner of his eyes and took a sip from his chocolate, without realizing how hot it was. He quickly coughed and gagged, setting the cup down on the table, as he made a fist to his chest.

Ed and Edna laughed, Ed walking over to pat his son on the back. "Hah, you okay there, kiddo?"

Jay nodded and stuck his tongue out, shaking his head. "Aww man," he said with his tongue still out of his mouth. "My tongue… too hot…"

"Hey, it's alright, son! Gotta be careful next time, though," Ed told him with a wink.

"Yeah, well, you know hot stuff isn't my thing."

Cole couldn't help but smile at their playful interaction.

"Oh, Cole, how do you like the hot cocoa?" Edna asked from the right. Cole turned his head and caught her sitting there with a warm smile.

"Oh, it's great, Mrs. Walker. Thank you."

"No need to call us that, sweetie, you can just call me Edna. And you can call, Ed, Ed."

Cole set his mug down and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Heh, that's nice of you, but I'd rather just call you two by your last names… I don't feel quite comfortable yet…"

"No worries, kiddo. Would ya like us to take your things upstairs in Jay's room for ya?" Ed offered, as he started towards Cole's bags.

Cole stood up and waved his hands, frantically. "Thanks! But it's fine! I've got it… maybe you wanna show me the way to your room, Jay?" Cole said to him as he lifted his bags off the ground, walking to the stairs.

Jay, who hadn't been listening, sat and watched as Cole stood by the bottom step, waiting patiently. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Cole cleared his throat and glared at Jay, tilting his head at the stairs. Finally, it clicked, and Jay jumped up, stumbling over to Cole, sheepishly grinning. Slightly embarrassed, he hurried Cole up the stairs, until they were out of his parent's sight.

The older male kept quiet on his way up. He followed Jay in the direction of his room and set his stuff down, taking a good look around the room. Jay shut the door and plopped down onto his bed, swinging his legs above the floor.

"You're pretty quiet… you okay?"

His eyes followed Cole's every movement as Cole unpacked his belongings, setting them neatly on the floor.

"The floor's clean… just fyi…"

 _This wasn't what I was expecting at all,_ Jay thought, fidgeting.

"So…" Cole finally said after his what seemed to be quiet game, "The hot chocolate's nice. To be honest, seeing you burn your tongue was pretty amusing, but it would've been better if you spilled it all over yourself."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Come on, when you're done unpacking I'll take you around the house while my parents bring that extra mattress up here!"

* * *

So apparently, Jay had a karaoke room. Well, technically it was just their living room, but the Walker's mostly used it for karaoke.

"How often do you guys do karaoke?" Cole asked as they walked towards the kitchen.

"Eh, not much. We ran out of songs to sing."

"I got a list of some of my favorite songs, maybe you could use some of those…?"

Before Jay could answer, Edna stepped out from the doorway, causing both Jay and Cole to jump backwards.

"Sorry, dearies, I was going to ask," she looked to Cole, "would you mind helping Jay set up the Christmas tree?"

"But… we don't have a tree…" Jay said, his lips tightening. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"Oh, I know we don't have one, sweetie. That's why I was gonna have you two go out and buy one!"

"Uh. Mom…"

"What's the matter, Jay? You always loved to pick out a tree."

Jay put hand to his face and groaned. "It's just that - nevermind…" As he started for the garage, he poked his head back in. "Can I use Dad's car?"

"You betcha!" said Ed as he came out from the garage. Jay opened up his palms, catching the keys. "Now, be careful, Jay. I just patched up a few minor problems on her. Don't want any new ones, or any of them to get worse."

"Will do, Pa," Jay replied with a wink and a salute, and led Cole into the garage. Falling into the driver's seat, Jay started the engine and used the garage door opener. The radio was on, but the volume was very soft, making it barely audible. "This car's been with us for a long time," Jay told Cole as the car slowly backed out. "She's nearly fifteen years old!"

" _She_?"

"My Dad decided to name her… Anyways! There's a great place near the city where we always get our tree. Then, afterwards we can maybe check out a few stores!"

"Why's that?

"Uh… Just a… Welcome home visit?"

"You hesitated."

"Did not." Jay's lips formed a thin line and he buckled in the seat belt, trying to ignore Cole.

Cole smirked. "Did too."

Jay pursed his lips. "Did _not_ and that's final."

Cole chuckled. "Whatever," he shook his head, rolling his eyes.

* * *

A few days after helping Jay set up the tree, Jay told Cole that his parents needed help baking a cake.

In all honesty, Cole just wanted to relax ever since he arrived at the Walker house. They had already gone out to buy a tree, which was pretty crazy. Jay had a physical checklist of what the perfect tree should be like, and it took forever to find the right one. Then, they went to the store, and Jay went ahead and bought a few more ornaments for the tree.

Unexpectedly, Jay had gone out and bought a handful of supplies _and_ ingredients needed to bake the cake, when he and Cole split up in the mall. When he came back and saw the bags in Jay's hands, he decided not to question it till later.

The ginger just kept smiling the whole drive back home.

"What's this cake for anyways?" Cole asked, as he pulled out the ingredients.

"We bake a cake every year! It's part of our Christmas meal!" Jay pulled out a light blue apron and tied it around himself.

"Think we can make it chocolate?"

Jay shrugged. "I dunno, I just bought what my Mom told me to get. Anywho, we gotta start! Mmm… let's seeeee…" He grazed his finger over the page of the recipe book and squinted at the words. Didn't seem too hard… that was until Jay heard a loud crash from behind him. He swirled around, eyebrow raised at his friend, who was standing with a nervous look on his face. "Back to the directions! … three 9-inch pans… and butter lightly… cocoa powder!"

He reached for the supplies, turning around once a while to check on what Cole was doing.

"You gonna help, or what?"

"Uh I'm not a great baker. In faaact, I'm not great at cooking overall…" Cole said as he put a hand on the counter and used the other to scratch the back of his neck.

"Maaaaybe you could just fetch the ingredients when I need them?" Jay suggested as he mixed in vanilla. "If you do that, it'll make it easier _and_ faster to bake this thing! And besides, it's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake!" He added with a wink. Cole laughed and rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt.

"Alright then. I'll grab the stuff, when you need them, of course. And you do the baking! This should turn out okay." Cole leaned over to the side to get a good look at the recipe and skimmed over it quickly. "Red velvet. Never had it, so you better make this good!"

"Uh-huh. I need another bowl." Cole set a bowl down in front of Jay. The younger one dumped in the cocoa and food coloring, then started mixing. "Eh, there's a lot of mixing in this."

Holding a glass of water, Cole took a sip then looked to Jay with a shake of his head. "What do you expect? You're _baking_ …"

"I - I know, I've just never actually baked a cake before. Or anything. I just sat and played video games while my parents baked it…"

"Some son you are," Cole scoffed with a hint of amusement in his voice. He reached over to grab the bowl from Jay, and Jay blindly handed it over. "Why don't I try mixing? If I go overboard, just tell me."

"Alrighty. But if you mess this up, just know that _you_ were a part of this horrible tasting cake…"

"Fair enough for my first red velvet cake."

* * *

 **I was going to add a scene where they pick the tree, but I decided not to especially since it's make this chapter much longer. And my usual chapters don't go over 3,000 words. So I'll add it into the Likely Shorts. Feel free to read it if you want to see that! It should be up sometime between Friday and Sunday!**


	18. What Can I Say Except You're Welcome

**Sorry for those of you who were waiting for the tree picking short! I completely forgot about it and remembered about it Sunday but didn't have enough time to finish it. I'll see if I can get that out this week but if not I'll probably still put it out, just not in time for Christmas. I also fell a wee bit behind on this chapter and was working on the rest of it today. So enjoy!**

* * *

 **Christmas Eve**

"This mashed potato is delicious, Mrs. Walker!" Cole said to her as he swallowed another spoonful.

Cole and the Walker family were all seated at the dining table, all but Jay that was. He was in the kitchen, doing a favor for his mom, which was to fetch the gravy for the mashed potatoes.

Edna grinned. "Thank you, Cole. Ya aren't gonna have some gravy with it?"

"There's gravy?! How come I didn't see that earlier!"

"Because it wasn't ready yet, _Dirtclod_ ," Jay scoffed as he walked out of the kitchen, the gravy in his hands. He stopped by Cole's end of the table and held the gravy just inches beside his plate. "So do ya want it or not?"

Cole nodded.

After pouring the gravy for Cole, Jay took his seat at the table. Sitting across from Cole, with his mom and dad to both sides of him.

The past few days since he'd been home had gone pretty well. Sure, Cole stayed pretty quiet on the first couple of days, though, later on he began to grow more comfortable around Jay's parents. However, he wasn't comfortable enough to stop calling them by their last names.

"So Mr. and Mrs. Walker, how'd you like the tree we decorated?" Cole asked as he reached for the rolls.

"Yeah, Mom and Dad! You still haven't told us what you think! It took a while… Especially because somebody," Jay began and shot a glare at Cole, "couldn't stop laughing. So technically, I did all the hard work. Thank you very much."

Setting down his glass, Ed cleared his throat. "Well it's really great, kiddo! Uh, I just wonder why there's a snowman at the top instead of a star. What happened to our star topper? Did it get lost?"

Jay stuffed his mouth with ham and laughed, suddenly turning into a coughing fit. "Yeeaaahhh, a snowman is… Really unusual… But! It's nice right? Heh. Oh that was a bad idea…" He mumbled softly as he continued to hit his chest.

"Who's idea was it for the adorable little snowman at the top?" Edna asked. That however, was true. The snowman that sat at the top of the tree wasn't even a Christmas tree topper, it was just a decoration that somehow managed to sit at the very top.

Jay wheezed and gulped down the water. "It was Jay's idea. He couldn't find the star and just put up the first thing he saw."

"Well I think it's lovely," Edna told her son with a warm smile.

"Thanks, Ma. And you know what, it's Christmas Eve, so, I just want to say, I'm thankful to have you guys as my parents." Jay looked at both his parents, then to Cole. "And I'm glad you could come, Cole."

Cole's face flushed and he shrunk down a bit in his seat. "H-Heh, p-probably should've saved it for Christmas Day," he said a little quietly.

"You stuttered."

"No… I didn't…"

"Did too," Jay nodded with a smirk.

"Did _not_ , period."

Jay rolled his eyes. Just like when before they left the house to grab a Christmas tree, he recalled.

The rest of dinner, the four of them continued to talk, and boy, did Jay's parents _talk_. They just kept going and going, they wouldn't stop. Not to be rude, but it bothered Cole a little, he loved the silence, which was why when he was younger, he would always escape into the outdoors when his dad wasn't home or didn't notice, and just sit in between a forest of trees.

They talked about college, Jay's childhood pillow, Jay's grade school life, and tons more. Though, what really caught Cole's attention, was when Jay asked his parents about how they met. Supposedly, Jay had never heard of it, but Cole figured he was just lying to get them to tell it again, except with Cole in the same room.

"Aren't moms cool?!" Jay blurted out after the story. He had apparently been phased by how _awesome_ Edna was in the past, and probably up till now too.

Cole set down his fork and stared at Jay. He was looking at Cole with a big grin on his face. "Are - are you waiting for me to do something?"

"Well, not exactly… But, as I was saying, they pick you up from school, they take care of most of the housework, oh! _My_ mom likes to tinker with stuff, and so does my Pa!"

"Er, yeah, that's nice…" Cole mumbled as he wiped at his mouth with the napkin.

"Humph, you just sad cause your parents are never around?"

"No…" Cole began to grow a little frustrated. That wasn't how his life worked. His dad _was_ around, just not _all_ the time. And his mom… Cole shook his head. "No. My parents _are_ around. Just not all the time…"

"-and then they…"

Cole frowned. Jay wasn't even listening to him. He was still talking away like Cole hadn't said anything.

"- Mom, I was wondering, how come we never get any pets?"

"Good question, dear. I'd love a pet, Ed?"

"Mom's agree with you!" Jay added.

Cole closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Why was Jay even talking about how cool mom's were? "Jay, can we please just move on?"

He opened his eyes and caught Jay with his mouth still open. They were talking about pets as of now, and family. Cole leaned back against the back of the chair and sighed to himself.

"- I would get a pet lizard… but I'm not sure about a name yet-"

Cole groaned. All this talk was starting to mush together into one big ball of nonsense. He started to eat again, making an attempt at blocking out Jay's voice. However, only a few seconds passed and Cole could still hear his annoying voice.

"Jay, stop."

"- but I mean, what's not to like? Mom's make amazing meals! That's for sure!"

Back to the moms.

Cole shook his head frantically. Yep, this was one thing he remembered from being cooped up with Jay in the dorm pretty much every single day; and it was that the guy just wouldn't stop talking.

"Jay… _please_ , stop."

Edna caught note of Cole fussing during Jay's babbling. "Jay, dear, Cole asked if you could stop -"

"- well see! That's another thing! My mom speaks up for other people! Kinda neat, ain't it? Oh, and then there's Pa -"

" _Jay, STOP_!"

"What's the matter, Cole?"

"Stop talking about moms, okay? It's… stupid! Can we talk about something _normal_ at the table?"

"My mom isn't stupid! You know Cole, you never told me about _your_ mom. Is there something I don't know about?"

Cole froze. He looked around the table, all eyes were on him. "My mom isn't with us anymore…" he muttered under his breath.

Ed and Edna looked at each other in shock, then at Cole with sympathetic faces. Jay, on the other hand, had been struck clueless, his mind blank.

"So… like, your parents got a divorce?"

Edna reached her arm over to Jay's side and shook her head, hoping her son wouldn't go on.

"Orrrr your dad cheated on her! You always said he was stuck in the music business, so maybe he just -"

"Can you just _shut_ your _mouth_ for once?! You talk _so_ much, you don't let anyone finish, you're practically interrupting everyone who tries to talk to you. You didn't even stop when your mom asked you to. Well, I'll tell ya what, Jay - my mom is _dead_! _Dead,_ Jay!"

The table fell quiet and Jay sat, speechless.

Cole stared at Jay with sadness and anger in his eyes. He looked like he was trying so hard to hold all of his emotions inside.

"You wondered why I wanted you to stop talking? You got your answer."

Standing up, Cole marched out of the dining room and made his way upstairs into Jay's room. He didn't have time to think about whether or not Jay was okay with letting Cole lock himself in his room.

He shut the door and sunk down to the floor, resting his back against the door.

Jay flinched when he heard the door slam shut. Edna looked to Jay. "Should I…?" Jay asked softly. His mother shook her head, as did his father.

"Uh, just give him some time, kiddo. Then you can go up there."

"Oh… Okay…"

 _What have I done?_

* * *

Cole had moved from the floor to the bed, allowing Jay to open the door. He opened it slowly, eyes softening when he saw Cole sitting on the edge of the bed, his back faced to him.

"C-Cole…?"

"What do you want? You gonna talk about my Dad next? … Go ahead… I have no words…"

Jay was taken back by those words and he closed the door behind him. He sat down beside Cole and offered him a smile, but Cole just turned away. Then, a silence fell between the two of them.

"Listen… I… I'm sorry about what I said down there…" Cole used his hand to wipe the tears off his face. Jay let out a small gasp when he saw Cole's arm go up to his face. "Are you - were you crying?"

Cole dropped his arm and sniffled. Not knowing what to do, Jay lifted his arm slowly off his lap. "Don't." Cole said coldly. His arm fell back down. "My mom… She passed away when I was six - she fell ill, the day before Christmas Eve... and we couldn't do much to help her. I stayed, locked myself in my room, for two whole days after she passed… I tried to move on, but that memory still haunts me… I miss her…"

"I'm sorry, Cole. And I promise, not to bring that topic up anymore, if it hurts you so much."

"Yeah, well, it still hurts, a lot. It's hard to forgive you for something like that. I'm sorry, Jay."

"No, no, it's okay… I understand. You know, my goal was to make this Christmas special for you, but I probably bombed it big time now."

"... You were, huh?"

"Maybe tomorrow I can do better-"

"You don't need to try harder, Jay."

"I don't…?"

"You bringing me here is enough. At first, I was unsure about it, but your family is really sweet. And now that I think about it, I haven't talked about my mom in years… It's nice to finally let it all out."

Jay smiled back at Cole. "You're welcome."

* * *

 **Christmas Day**

The blankets flew off the bed and Jay kicked his feet up into the air, flailing his arms in excitement. Jay ran to the bed Cole was sleeping on and stood by it, holding in his excitement.

It didn't matter how old he was, but he always loved Christmas. Presents were the big thing, but he eventually came to love the time he spent with his parents on the special holiday.

"What time is it?" Cole groaned, twisting and turning under the covers.

Jay rolled his eyes and pulled off the sheets, causing Cole to jolt awake from the cold.

"Who cares! My parents are already up! They're downstairs… Merry Christmas, Cole!"

"... What?"

"It's _Christmas_! _Merry Christmas_!" Jay grabbed onto Cole's arm and pulled him up, stumbling backwards because of how heavy he was. Cole just laughed and let his arm drop back down. Jay placed his hands on his thighs and took in a deep breath. "GET OUT OF BED!"

"Okay! Okay! Don't _shout_! Jeez!" Cole pushed himself off the floor and looked down at Jay with somewhat tired eyes. "You know, I'm feeling a little better since yesterday," he told Jay with a smile.

"Theeeen, I can finally give you this!" Jay ran over to his dresser and opened a drawer, pulling something large out. He handed it to Cole, placing a card on top of it. "It's your present."

Before Cole began to unwrap the gift, he reached by his bag and handed Jay his gift to him.

Jay quickly took it out of Cole's hands and tried to feel for what it was first. He moved his fingers across the top of it, sticking his tongue out to the side. One thing for sure was that the gift wasn't small, in fact it was pretty big. Bigger than what Jay got for Cole. However, the present being a rectangular box left Jay clueless on what sort of gift it could be.

There were millions of things out there that were stuffed in boxes.

Giving up, he ripped open the wrapping paper and his eyes grew big at the first word he saw.

 _Starfarer_

"No way… Did you-? _When_ and _how_? These things are so expensive and hard to come by…" Jay continued to fanboy inside as he pulled the box out. It was a Starfarer Fritz Donegan collectible figure.

"I started searching early sometime during late October, got some help from Lloyd too, hope you like it."

The ginger proceeded in admiring the box before unboxing the figurine. "It's so awesome! I _love_ it! My parents would have never gotten me this!" He cast Cole a glance, motioning his head toward the gift he gave Cole. "Thanks, now it's time for you to open your gift."

First, he opened the card.

 _Merry Christmas, Dirtclod._

 _I really really hope that this Christmas didn't turn out as bad as you thought it would. And by the way, I tend to grow on_ everyone _, I'm just waiting for you to admit you enjoy hanging out with me._

 _~ Jay_

Cole snorted and set the card on the floor beside his still wrapped up present.

As Cole tore the paper off, Jay fell backwards on the floor and started to talk. "I wasn't sure what to get you, so I went to Kai, Nya, Zane, Lloyd and everybody else for help! Even Ronin! But he asked for something in return and I didn't know what to give him, so he wasn't very helpful. But I hope you like it…"

"Wait… Why's the box so light? It's huge but… There's barely anything in it…"

"Just open the box, _Dirt-fer-brains._ "

Cole did as he was told and stared at the object inside.

It was a picture frame.

He remembered this. It was just the day they all skating. After Jay had told Cole about his decision for winter break, the whole group skated a couple of rounds around the rink. Later on, Zane and Kai had stepped out, watching the others from the sidelines. At the very end before they split, never to see each other again until the new year, Nya had some random stranger take their group photo by the rink.

"There's something on the back…" Jay said to fill in the silence.

Cole flipped the picture to its back and saw a small note. He plucked it off the back side and squinted at it.

"It's blank…"

 _Ding_.

Jay shot up into a sitting position and looked to Cole. The two of them got up and rushed downstairs. Cole, being in front, came to a stop when he saw the person at the door.

He was talking to Jay's parents.

Cole wasn't sure whether he should back up or continue down the stairs.

"Jay…"

"What? You think my parents are freaked out by your dad at the door?"

"What?!"

"I got a hold of your phone, found your dad's number and asked him to come… It was hard, but I did it, my parents were all for the idea too. You're welcome…"

Suddenly, Lou had caught sight of Cole.

"Oh, Cole, your father is here. Come say, hi!" Edna said to him.

Cole walked down the stairs slowly, his whole body shaking as he stepped closer to his father. It has been so long since they spent Christmas with each other. Sure, Cole was upset about his father never making it, but all that didn't matter now. He was here.

"I'm so sorry… I… I have no excuse… My family is more important than my music business, I should've known better. You probably won't forgive me, son, but I hope in time you can…" Lou and Cole both stood just a couple feet away from each other.

Lou nearly stumbled back when his son embraced him. In return, Lou hugged Cole back and they stood like that for a moment, Cole, taking the time to clear his thoughts and only focus on his father.

"Aw, ain't that sweet, Edna?" Ed said with a chuckle as he wrapped an arm around both Edna and Jay. Ed turned to Jay. "I dunno how you managed to do it, son, but you sure did make him happy."

"I had some help," Jay said in response with a smirk.

Once Lou and Cole finally let go, Ed and Edna took Lou towards the living room. Cole took in a deep breath before turning around. Jay put his hands on his hips and was surprised to see that Cole's eyes were slightly red.

"S-Sorry, tore up a little…"

"So…?" Jay started.

"You were right, yesterday. And, I can't remember the last time I actually spent a full Christmas with my Dad - I…"

"Uh, bup, don't need to say anything. You're welcome. Again."

Cole rolled his eyes. He pointed a finger upstairs. "We should probably change."

"No duh."

As they headed upstairs, Cole spun around to face Jay.

"Oh, and by the way… Merry Christmas, Jay."

"Merry Christmas, Cole."

* * *

 **Okay, I just have to say, Moana is probably the _only_ movie which I fell in love with the _entire_ soundtrack. Like... I don't just like the songs, but I _love_ the scores and demos and out takes! Plus it's the only movie I've seen twice in the theater. So beautiful! Anyways, hope you're all having a great holiday and Merry Christmas everyone! ... And a Happy New Year!**


	19. More Than Roommates

Jay couldn't sleep. Again.

He shifted in bed, checking time to time to see whether Cole was awake or not.

Winter break was already almost over. Jay told Cole that they would be heading back to the college campus tomorrow, meaning that today was their last day at the Walker house.

It had been nice visiting his parents again, and he'd get to see them later most likely over the summer, but Jay didn't want to leave. In fact, he didn't want to go back to school at all.

He sighed and stared up at the ceiling. He tilted his head towards Cole and watched as he slept peacefully on the mattress. If it was easy for him to fall asleep, why couldn't he?

Maybe Cole was still awake.

" _Cole_?" Jay said barely a whisper. " _Cole are you still up_?" He reached over and nudged the guy just a bit.

"Mm… yesh… what time is it?"

"I dunno, but I can't sleep again…"

"What's the matter?"

Jay shrugged. With the darkness preventing Cole from seeing anything, he took the answer of silence as an "I dunno, I just can't sleep."

"You got your teddy bear, right?"

Jay frowned. "Come on, Cole… I _can't sleep_."

"It's late. It's almost the end of winter break. And I'm tired, can we just…" he paused for a yawn, "... Call it a night…? I'm tired…"

"I know you're tired… but I'm not…"

He heard Cole sigh. "What do you want me to do?"

Jay smirked.

* * *

"Great… Now I can't go back to sleep. Thanks a lot, Jay," Cole grumbled as he stared up to the ceiling. He checked his phone and stared at the time. It was 2AM, wouldn't hurt if he just woke up early - really early.

Quietly slipping out of the room, he marched down the stairs and made his way into the kitchen. He switched on the lights, and opened the fridge door and searched for a early morning snack. When there nothing, he tried the cupboards and pulled out a box of crackers.

Cole sat down on the couch and eyed the TV as he threw crackers into his mouth. He reached for the remote, but then took it back, afraid it might wake up the others.

So, he sat, flipping through his phone.

Besides there was nothing better to do. He could go outside, after all, there as snow - he checked before he went to the kitchen, but go outside this early? It'd be dark.

Suddenly, he heard humming, Cole turned around and spotted Edna walking down the stairs.

"Mrs. Walker!" Cole half shouted when she got closer.

"Oh, hello, Cole! I just came down to grab a glass of water, why are you up?"

"Oh, well… Jay couldn't sleep, so he woke me up, and after doing whatever… He just fell asleep, but I didn't." Cole watched as Edna pulled out a glass, filling it halfway with water.

When she was done, Edna sat down next to Cole.

"So, um, you're not going back to bed?" Cole asked, a little nervous with the unexpected company.

"I was wonderin'... how's Jay doin' in college? It was nice of him to bring you over, you two must be such good friends."

"Um…" They weren't friends, were they? They've only spent at least four months together; they were probably just roommates who acted like friends. He remembered Edna, who was sitting next to him. "Oh! Oh yeah… Uhh, Jay's doing _great!_ " He lied. The truth was, as they got further into the year, Jay continued to sleep through most of his classes and slack on homework.

"Is something wrong, Cole?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine, Mrs. Walker, thank you…" He looked away for a bit, biting the inside of his cheek.

"You know, I'm happy Jay's got such good friends to help him. He used to be failing almost every class in grade school. Thank you, dear, for looking out for him."

Cole laughed nervously, "Hah, no problem… Mrs. Walker. Um if you don't mind me asking, how did he pass his grades in High School?"

"He had a friend who always came by to help him with work." Edna sighed, "the two of them were very close."

"Were? What happened?"

"Life, dear, they slowly drifted apart. Jay tried to contact him, but he never replied."

"Oh…"

"He was the one who came up with the idea of getting your father to come over, ya know?"

"Yeah… He told me…"

"It took a lot of effort, your father is very hard to persuade - but Jay managed to do it. The kiddo just won't give up till he makes someone happy."

"Heh, really?"

"Listen, Cole, I understand Jay can get on your nerves at times, and he can be a wee bit of a talker, I mean, so am I, and so is Ed! but he's not as bad as he seems." Edna looked to Cole and put a hand on his thigh. "You two aren't friends, are ya?"

Cole shook his head in disappointment. "I - I dunno… I've never actually called him my friend before… he has, a couple of times. I know I've been by his side since September, I'm just… not sure what we are, friends, two different people, or roommates that act like friends," he let out an exhausted sigh and relaxed back into the couch. Edna was suddenly standing on his right. He flinched.

"Wouldya like a cookie, deary?" She asked, holding out a jar of chocolate chip cookies before him. Cole shrugged and took one, thanking Edna politely. As she began to head back upstairs, she gave Cole one last glance before disappearing above. "Ya know, ya might not believe it, but Jay brought cha here to make this Christmas special, because you're his friend."

* * *

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" Jay shouted from the passenger seat before they drove off. Once the house was out of sight, Jay leaned back in his seat and relaxed, putting his hands behind his head. "Only two more days left of break, ey…" said Jay as they came to a stop at the traffic light.

Cole dropped his hands from the wheel and yawned.

"You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…"

Jay pushed himself off the back of the seat and leaned over to his left. "You couldn't sleep?"

"No, not after you kept me up for half an hour…"

"We can stop by a drive thru, maybe grab some things to eat, that'll probably get you awake. Coffee!"

"What?! No - Jay, I'm fine!" He put his foot on the gas pedal once again, and the car drove along the road slowly. "I'm wide awake, and… and I'm perfectly capable of handling this car!"

Jay blinked. Suddenly, it hit him that _Cole_ was the one who was tired, and _Cole_ who was driving the car back to the college. "Coooole! Find some place to park, _I_ will take the wheel!"

He thrust his arms at Cole and fought to take Cole's hands off the wheel.

"Jay! What the heck are you doing?! This is dangerous! We could -" Cole stopped mid sentence and winced when he heard a loud honk.

"You wanna talk about danger, talk about _you_ driving behind the wheel, still half asleep!"

"For the name of…" Cole pried a hand away from the wheel and put it to Jay's face, pushing him to the side. "Just. Sit. It's bad enough if I'm probably tired, but it's even worse, if you try to attack me in a moving vehicle! Especially with me driving. First of all, the police could come, second, we could get seriously hurt, or worse, _die_."

Jay folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window. Cole just shook his head in response and continued to drive, slightly afraid of what the cars around them saw. Waving the thought away, he focused on the road in front of him.

They drove on for about an hour in silence. And, to Jay's surprise, they did go through a drive thru. Cole ordered a coffee and a couple of muffins. Jay on the other hand, spent his money on cake pops, fries, and a drink of his own. The fast food place basically had everything!

Cole frowned when he found that he had finally finished his coffee. He looked to Jay, who sat with a cake pop in his mouth. _'Ya know, ya might not believe it, but Jay brought cha here to make this Christmas special, because you're his friend.'_ "Hey, Jay…"

"Whadda you want?"

"Why did you bring me to your house for the holiday vacation?"

The cake pop popped out of Jay's mouth and he chewed on the piece he broke off. Finally, Jay swallowed. "Huh? I already told you."

"Yeah, but what's the _real_ reason? You don't just pull someone over to your house saying, 'I'm gonna make this the best Christmas you've ever had!'"

"Well that's exactly what I planned, sooooo… Can't say anything more, heh?" Cole rolled his eyes and stepped harder on the pedal. "Woah! Chill out, Cole!"

"And you certainly don't just bring someone you barely even know. So, what is it? The _truth_."

"I just enjoy company, okay? It's not always fun being an only child anyways."

Cole remained silent.

Jay sighed. "I couldn't let you be alone during that time of year…"

"I get that you were trying to do all this for me, but _why_? There's gotta be a reason behind it. And I know it's not because I was gonna be alone. You knew that I've spent so many years spending the holidays without my Dad, so _why_ , Jay?"

Jay held his tongue.

When they came to another light, Cole closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He wasn't ready to say what he was about to say just yet, but he had too. Besides, there wasn't any other way to get Jay to spill it, right? Cole's dark eyes stared into Jay's and he began to speak slowly.

"You're my _friend_ , aren't you?"

The car fell into dead silence.

"So tell me then." Jay didn't noticed he had nodded in response. He was too busy trying to decide whether he was stuck in one of those very realistic dreams, or whether he had hit his head and heard Cole wrong.

Cole had never called Jay that. Even for the past four months, Jay was the one who always called Cole a friend.

"I… I wanted to make this special because… Because you're my friend Cole. You're the first person I actually grew to know more about since I stepped onto campus. And, friends don't leave friends to be alone on Christmas." He stared at the road for a while. "This is the first time you've ever called me your friend."

"Well, what else do I call ya? Roomy? After what we've been through the past months, I'd say we're more than roommates. We're friends…"

* * *

 **Quick authors note: has anyone ever loved a character so much, like a character of the same gender, that'd you'd literally like a comment calling them hot or whatever? XD Something that would normally happen if the character you liked was of the opposite gender. Cause I'm still in love with Moana, and I'm a girl... And I liked a comment saying "hot thumbnail" because it's so true [to me] - aw man ANYWAYS to get to the real point, I heard the new Hands of Time episodes already aired, but in Finnish.**

 **How many of you have watched them already? I didn't... I just took a couple of screenshots, aka my profile picture. I wonder when the English ones will come though...**


	20. Sweet Singing

**Imma say a bit before we start the chapter.**

 **1) TOMORROW IS VOLTRON SEASON 2!**

 **2) I am very upset cause I went to the Disney Store on Monday and saw my first Disney LE doll in person! And it was Moana! I literally held her in my hands for bout five minutes and she was so pretty! It was dealt expensive though so *cries* - I bought the 11" Classic one from the Disney store though! XD**

 **3) Who's excited for spring? I know it's still a few months away but I really can't wait for winter to be over. And with exams coming up and stuff - I bet for a lot of people... Ya just can't wait for spring.**

 **Whale, now onwards with the chapter!**

* * *

Jay and Nya were sitting in front of the bakery, an umbrella shielding their faces from the bright sun. A cake sat in front of Jay and a milkshake in front of Nya.

"It was really sweet of you to take me here, Jay," Nya told him before taking a quick sip from her milkshake straw.

Jay felt his face grow hotter. "Hah, pun intended?..." He blinked at Nya a couple of times before picking up his fork again and swallowing the cake, piece by piece. "Anyways, uh, no problem, Nya… How's the milkshake?"

Her lips left the straw once again and she smiled at Jay. "It's great, Jay. Glad you're back from vacation too… Speaking of which, how was it anyways? I know you brought Cole over and stuff, but how'd things go?" She asked with a quirky grin.

The ginger dropped his fork and scratched the back of his neck. Why did they have to talk about _that_? He brought Nya here so that they could talk about the two of them. However, they did get back from break almost two weeks ago, and Jay finally had the chance to see Nya again. Last weekend they had all met at the cafe, all but Nya. Kai had mentioned something about some trip to a lake to take photos. Jay gave himself a minute to think before answering Nya. "Oh, well, my parents… You know…"

Nya laughed. "No, I don't know…"

"Uh…" Jay cleared his throat. "Um, what I meant was, my parents, they're like me. Uh, uh, chatty-"

"Funny?"

Jay shook his head. "What was that?"

"Oh, I was asking, since you're parents are just like you, that they're probably really funny too."

"I guess you could say that…" He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. When he thought it was just a message, the phone continued to buzz, creating an irritating itch by his thigh. Jay scratched it under the table and patted his phone with a smile. "I actually had to go pick out a tree for my parents, ooh and I took your advice - the one you told me a few days before break, and gave Cole a picture frame!"

"That really sweet, Jay," she said, the corner of her lips lifting.

Finally, Jay's phone had stopped vibrating and he let out a small sigh of relief. "So how was yours?"

"Oh, it was, okay. My cousin accidentally fell down the stairs and broke his arm."

Jay's eyes grew large and he jumped in his seat. "AH!"

The girl tilted her head to the side and squinted. "Are you okay?"

"Er, yeah! I'm totally fine! Just surprised, uh, is he doing okay?" He pulled his phone out and stuffed it under the table, searching for the ringer button. Someone was still trying to call him, and now wasn't the best time.

"Oh yeah, he's doing fine! Thanks for asking."

Jay nodded with hesitation. He knew that it couldn't have been Cole or Kai. Jay had told Cole about asking Nya to the café and if Nya came, then obviously, Kai would've known somehow.

It was hard trying to feel for the ringer button while his phone was hidden under the table. Jay struggled to keep a smile on his face as Nya continued talking.

Once again, the call had ended, but it wasn't over yet. The person trying to get his attention started sending messages. Jay groaned.

"Erm, will you excuse me, for a minute? … I gotta use the restroom…" Nya waved as Jay ran inside.

He ran into a stall and locked himself in, pulling out his phone. Staring at the screen, he grumbled to himself and called back.

"Dude, Zane, what do you want?!"

"Are you okay, Jay? You do not sound very pleased."

Gritting his teeth together, he growled, "No, no everything's _just fine_!"

"Oh, okay. In that case, I wanted to let you know, I finished proofreading your essay and there are quite a few mistakes within it."

Jay put his face to his hand.

" _Whaat?_ I didn't ask _you_ to read it! … but still - you couldn't have called later or something?!"

"Weeeell, actually, I tried to tell him that…"

Jay hunched back. " _Cole?_ Can somebody just please tell me, what the heck is going on?! I still have my date with Nya _you know_?"

" _Date_? Last I remember, you said you were just going to hang at the bakery."

Jay's face flushed. "Okay. One, I asked _Cole_ to read my paper, _not_ Zane. Two, it's like a half date, half hang out thing! No questions! So can someone please tell me why Zane read my paper?"

"Zane has a bunch better way with words than I do. I thought he'd be a much better editor."

"Cole does have a point. In fact, I think I know how you can change it up to make your essay even better."

" _Grrr_ , you're supposed to _edit_ _and revise_ it, not change the entire thing!"

"I did edit and revise, but I feel like you could have done better."

"Whatever, just have Cole bring back the paper and I'll fix whatever I need to fix… BYE."

Stuffing his phone in his pocket, Jay turned to face the front of the stall but froze when he heard a loud knock.

"I'M BUSY, DUDE!"

* * *

 **Later That Day**

"Wassup?" Cole asked as he collapsed onto his chair. He propped his feet up onto his desk and set his laptop onto the smooth surface. He heard Jay huff from behind him, causing Cole to chuckle. "You look a little upset."

"Hahahahaha. You think?! That was my _first_ date with Nya and you guys ruined it!"

"You mean "date"."

Jay growled. "I told you before - half date, half hang out whatever." Cole rolled his eyes, the corner of his lip slightly tugged up. "And just so you know, you and Zane cut it short! Nya had to leave right after!" Jay flopped onto his bed and folded his arms across his chest, his lips curled out.

Cole shrugged as if he didn't care and pulled up NinTube. "Uh-huh, well, wanna do some karaoke?"

"Uh - uh, are you asking me?"

"Well ya, who else would I be asking?"

Jay's shoulders tucked by his ears and he stood, trying to think whether he heard Cole right. "Karaoke?"

"C'mon, you have a karaoke room at your house, it's Saturday night, why not do a little karaoke? Besides, you didn't offer _me_ any karaoke while we were there." His dark eyes followed the screen up and down as he searched for a good song. He kicked back from his desk and swiveled in front of Jay's bed with a smile on his face. "How bout _Our World_? You know, the one by _S.M_?"

As if he had been struck by lightning, Jay jumped up and nodded enthusiastically. That song had been his childhood, and all the memories… Jay sighed. There was no way he was passing that up. He rushed over to Cole's laptop and scrolled through the different versions.

"Ya know there _is_ this neat karaoke site I use," Jay started as he opened a new tab and typed in the web address.

Cole beamed and dragged his chair closer to his desk.

After a few minutes of searching, Jay stood back and put his hands on his hips as he stared at the laptop screen, waiting for the music to start.

Jay walked a few steps towards the center of the room and started to sing with the instrumental. " _Somebody once told me, the world was kinda crazy. I didn't know the facts until then-"_

" _But the teach was really boring, and the class was kinda snoring -"_ Cole chimed in, slowly coming up from his chair.

" _No wonder I had nothing in my head-"_

Cole started tapping his foot, as Jay moved his arms to the music. Unfortunately for them, they were on the second floor, however, none of them seemed to remember and kept marching around the room.

" _Well, the years keep coming and they don't stop coming - fed with the rules, we just hit the ground, spinning-"_

" _Didn't make sense, now we live for fun - never walk anymore, now we always run-"_

" _Act how you wish, act how you please - don't go crazy like a man on caffeine - you'll never run if you don't walk, you'll never sing if you don't talk-"_

The two of them started to sing in unison. " _Hey now, this is our world! Run it our way, go play! Hey now, this is my world, run it my way, my say!"_

Jay reached over his bed and picked up his stuffed bear he had brought home from break, and put it by his mouth as a microphone

" _And all the things that we do-"_

" _Got so much more, were still on the move-"_ Cole finished. The rest of the song they continued to sing, bouncing off each other's lines.

" _It's a fun place, and they say it gets better-"_

" _I remember once, it was during the summer-"_

" _I was 10 years old, drowned in sunscreen-"_

" _A wave rose up making a little girl scream-"_

" _The song we sing, we cherish forever-"_

" _As we grow older, we don't need no lover-"_

" _My world's still spinning, how bout yours?-"_

" _Livin' life to the fullest and I'll never get bored!"_

Annndddd back to unison. " _Hey now, this is our world! Run it our way, go play! Hey now, this is my world, run it my way, my say!"_

" _And all the things that we do-"_

" _Got so much more, were still on the move-"_

Then came the whistling half of the song. The two of them started whistling as they bounced around the room.

Quite unexpectedly, Cole heard a knock and glided over to the door as Jay continued to jam in the background. He opened the door and Cole's whistling scooped to a low stop when he met Kai's brown eyes.

"Uh -"

"Hey - what are… you guys… um…" Kai scratched the top of his head when he noticed Jay singing, holding a teddy bear in his hands, the bear held just a few inches from his mouth. "Are you guys… singing?"

"KA-AH!"

Kai looked over Cole's shoulder to find Jay standing in the middle of the room with one leg up in the air, his arms tucked close to his chest, and his eyes wide with embarrassment. To the left of his view of the room, he saw Cole's laptop open to window which had the karaoke music still playing.

"Is that _Our World_ by _S.M_?"

"Er… Yeaaaah…" answered Cole while Jay proceeded to bury his face into his pillow.

"Awesome! Are you guys doing some karaoke night or something?" Kai asked as he pushed past Cole and bend over by the laptop.

To answer Kai's question, Jay mumbled into his pillow.

"Next time you do this, you guys should invite me! And Zane! And maybe Lloyd… We could all hang and sing a couple of songs!"

Cole thought for a minute before nodding. "You know that does sound like a good idea." He looked to Jay before leaning in closer to Kai, "Ya know I was only doing this to avoid talking anymore about his "date"."

Kai chuckled softly. "You had fun though, didn't you?"

"No." Cole replied flatly.

Kai's mouth started curving downward.

"Kidding!" Cole rested his shoulder on Kai's and pointed at Jay. "He's probably really red by now though."

"Gotta admit. He has a good voice," Kai added.

* * *

 **In case no one could get it from the first line, this was a parody of All Star by Smash Mouth I attempted at writing. XD Hope it pleases you heh -**


	21. The Story of Tonight

**Finals are finally over and I'll be on here more often now! Yey! There are still a few more fanfics I need to catch up on but I needed to finish typing up this chapter first. :P**

 **Okay, I am so ready for summer! Or spring! Whichever - as long as there's sun, and it's just really really warm outside. XD How bout you guys? and gosh it's already second semester for me! School's going by fast! Not to mentioned movies go by a lot faster the more times you've seen them... But can't say I'd get tired of watching em *shrug* - honestly though, I saw Moana for a third time over the weekend and it didn't even feel like an hour!**

 **Anyways, few words before you get reading, I actually have Jay and Kai getting drunk in this chapter... Though I kept everything on the kid/family - zone. So no language or anything inappropriate. I wanna keep this AU enjoyable for everyone :)**

* * *

"Jay you keep this up, you're gonna regret it -"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

Cole frowned and marched up to the chair, turning it around so that Jay could see him eye to eye, sharply. "Maybe if you cared about your grades, you'd actually _get it_. You're in college, Jay!" Jay gripped onto the armrests of the chair and shrugged carelessly. "You're not even caught up with the book club _and_ the book _we're_ reading. Not to mention you have a paper due in a few days."

"Since when do you keep track of _my_ assignments?"

"Since I dunno. I wish I didn't, but you're a procrastinator and you're lazy. So someone needs to make sure you don't oversleep or turn in things late."

Jay huffed. "Have Zane do it or something, if you hate it that much. The guy can keep track of _a ton_ of dates."

"He is, but he isn't in the room right now, is he?"

Jay's face twisted and he threw a pencil onto the desk.

"Fine! I'll get to work…"

Cole held out his laptop. He pulled the laptop from Cole's hands and opened a fresh new document, staring at the page. His hands refused to leave the edge of the desk. Pushing the laptop back, he banged his head against the desk.

"Are you being serious right now? You have these papers right here to help you," Cole scoffed as he flipped through the folder, pulling out a handful of papers.

"Whatever," Jay folded his arms across his chest and pouted. He was attacked by the stack of papers being piled onto his desk.

The minutes passed as Jay worked, or tried to work, while Cole sat on Jay's bed reading. Every time Jay tried to drift off task, Cole would threaten to throw his book at him. Obviously Cole didn't expect Jay to finish all of it today, but Zane probably did.

"Can we listen to some music?" Jay asked in the same tone any kid would.

He reached for his phone but Cole slammed the book shut, aiming it for Jay's head. Jay's hand drew back and he frowned, dragging his fingers down his face.

Cole picked up his phone and pulled up a playlist, mixed of different song genres and turned up the volume, setting it down beside him.

After an hour of nothing but music filling the room, Jay launched his feet off the back of the desk and rolled the chair by Cole.

"Eyy, by the way, I'm going to a party tomorrow night with Kai!"

Cole's shoulders tightened and he tore his gaze off the page, looking to Jay with his mouth halfway open.

"Come again?"

"I'm going to a party with Kai! I'm not sure what kind of party… but he invited me, so it'd be rude not to accept… wanna come with?" Jay skimmed the room for snacks and picked up a banana.

Cole shook his head swiftly. "No."

Cole was not up for hanging at college parties. At least, not while he was still in his freshman year. He wanted this year to run smoothly, and not get held behind by things like parties. Not to mention all the things that could happen. He smiled nervously and cleared his throat.

"You uh… you know it's a fifty-fifty chance it might happen, but uh, don't drink too much."

Jay froze, the banana already peeled. He burst into laughter.

"I appreciate your concern, Cole, but I'll be _fine_! I've never tasted anything but water and fruit juice in my entire life! Oh and soda... If anything, it'll be _Kai_ who gets drunk."

Cole tried to put a smile on his face.

"Yeah… okay…"

* * *

"Did you finish your paper last night?"

That was the first thing Zane asked when he met Jay sitting on a bench by the large window the next day.

Cole snickered.

Jay kicked him.

"Really? _Really_!? Is _everyone_ keeping track of my assignments? Couldn't you ask something like, 'how was your day, Jay?' Or, 'I like that shirt you're wearing', which by the way is my favorite shirt of all time… Or maybe something like: I bought an apple but I'm not going to eat, do you want it instead? And I'd say: sure! I'd love an apple!" He pointed to the ruby red apple on Zane's tray.

"I always buy apples, they are good for your health. I would have bought another one if I knew you wanted one."

Jay's face turned red and he held a fist in front of his face, deeply inhaling, than letting it all out.

"So how's _your_ day so far, Zane?" Jay asked, taking another bite from his sandwich.

"It is going well, thank you for asking. How about yours?"

"I'm going to a party tonight!"

Zane raised a brow.

"You are?"

"Yeah! Kai invited me. I'm really excited! My first college party!"

"That sounds… Nice." He turned to Cole. "How about you? Are you going to?"

Cole bit into his granola bar and gazed up at Zane. "No…" He said, mouth full.

Zane sat down next to Cole and set the tray down on his lap. He watched as Jay caught notice of Nya walking buy, and hurriedly stuffed down the rest of his sandwich. The ginger packed his food away and stood up, running to catch up to Nya, leaving his things behind.

Once Jay was gone, Zane looked to Cole. "You aren't going to try and stop him from going to the party?"

"Oh, me? No- We don't gotta worry bout him, right? Just Kai."

"I remember you told me Jay's mom asked you about how Jay was holding up in college. And going to a party at this level does not sound like a wise idea. If he was older, sure, but he's still a freshman like us. Maybe you should do his parents a favor and look out for him as his roommate."

Cole leaned back against the window. No words left his mouth, but an exhausted sigh.

"I am very sure you don't think this is a good idea either, I can't be the only one who thinks this…" He cast a glance at his tray and picked up the fruit. "Apple?"

* * *

Jay slipped into his sweatshirt and tugged at the ends of the sleeves, wriggling his hands inside of them. He propped his hood and slid by his desk, picking up his phone.

It was about twenty minutes before the party started and Jay promised Kai he'd be there early.

Feeling confident in himself, he marched towards the door and opened it just halfway before looking back at Cole, who was sitting on his bed with headphones sitting on his head.

"You sure you don't wanna come?"

Cole pulled his right headphone off his ear and stared at Jay.

"What I said yesterday, I meant it."

"Oh, okay. Thought you'd change your mind… I dunno…"

Cole thought back to what Zane had said to him earlier today and continued to stare right through Jay. He shook his head and turned his attention back to his music.

Having no clue what that was all about, Jay shrugged and proceeded to leave until Cole's voice stopped him.

"But, hey. Have fun…"

* * *

"This party's really loud!" Jay shouted, hoping Kai could hear him.

They were standing by the stairs of the house, Kai holding a glass in his hand. Jay hadn't accepted any offer for a drink since he'd arrive. He put his hands on his hips in satisfaction and watched from the corner of his eye as Kai took a long sip.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Jay's stomach growled. He sighed. There was barely anything to eat here. When he was told it would be a party, he assumed there'd be drinks _and_ food, bit apparently not.

Kai flashed Jay a crooked smile and shook the drink in his hand. He took another sip, the glass already two thirds empty. Jay looked around him and saw everybody else doing the same. No one was sitting on the side like he was. Everyone was being just like Kai.

"You don't wanna try?" Kai asked.

"Uh… uh no thanks…" he bit his lip. Did Nya know about this habit of Kai's? After all, she did scold at him when he almost swore at the café.

"Why, you got some bad experience with it or something?"

Jay shook his head in one quick motion. "N-No, I've just never had anything other than water, fruit juice, and soda… I don't plan to try anything else." His eyes left the glass and he started to back away from Kai, trying to make up his mind whether he should just leave right now.

Kai frowned and looked at the bottom of his glass, tilting the glass from side to side.

"Ya sure? You haven't even tried it…" Kai held his glass up in front of Jay's face.

The ginger backed up and pushed the glass away from him. "I promised Cole I wouldn't do anything that might … ya know…"

Kai rolled his eyes and continued to stuff the glass in his face.

"Pfhhhhhhh… Is Cole like your big bro or something? _I promised_ …" he mocked.

Jay winced, feeling a little hurt, and he pushed the glass away again. Kai had drank _way_ too much. He swallowed and took a bold step forward.

"No… well… I dunno… but, Nya wouldn't approve of this either, _Kai_!"

The other scowled and curled his free fingers into a fist. "Just try some! _I_ promise I won't let you get all…" he stopped as he pointed to some of the people around them who were already out of it.

* * *

Cole was in Lloyd's room, skimming through the comics Lloyd had brought with him.

Zane was out for the night, as he promised to help Nya with another project. Which left Lloyd alone in his dorm. It was nice having the room all to himself once in while, but Lloyd got easily lonely. So when he heard from Cole that Jay was hanging with Kai, Lloyd invited the guy over.

"So any plans for mid-winter break?" Lloyd asked as he stared at his phone screen.

Cole picked up another comic and continued reading. "No… not really. I'm excited for the Spring though. Can't wait for the sun!"

His eyes traveled up and down the page as he read through the panels. It was an interesting comic… And it definitely wasn't Starfarer. Something about a girl who spent most of her life on her phone. He wasn't sure why Lloyd had a comic like that with him, but it wasn't all bad to read.

He flipped the next page, slipping into a lying position on Lloyd's bed.

"I got some chips, want any?"

"Oh, sure!" Cole held up his hand as Lloyd tossed him the small snack back. Cole caught it with ease and brought it to the mattress, about to pop open the bag until: "Hey, you're okay if I eat on your bed, right?"

Lloyd's mouth was already stuffed with chips and he swiveled in his chair. "Go ahead!"

Once Cole was finally finished with the comic, he picked out another and dropped his face into the bed, giving his eyes a break.

"I heard Jay was going to a party with Kai. Tonight."

"Oh yeah." Cole spoke into the blankets.

"I'm kinda worried about that."

Cole's head came up and he looked to Lloyd.

"Nothing to worry about, Jay promised he wouldn't do anything dumb."

"Uh, you might want to rethink that… Kai… He… He could change that." Lloyd exchanged a worried look with Cole. "He's been to many parties that Nya never knew about… When you're with him… In other words, ya, you should be worried."

* * *

Cole slammed right into the door and wobbled backwards, nearly losing his balance. He rubbed at his forehead and gazed down at the ground. "Next time, I better watch where I'm running…" Cole told himself as he tried to reach for the knob.

"C'mon, Jay, where are you?" Cole opened the door and stared with wide eyes at what was before him. He gulped, as he watched people flailing their arms and laughing and shouting. He was gonna find Jay, he knew he was, but it wasn't going to be easy.

He wandered into the crowd and shouted either Jay or Kai over and over again, but was barely getting anywhere due to the loud music. Everyone around him was either bouncing or dancing as the music got louder.

Cole tugged at his collar. "Ugh, it's too warm in here…"

There were too many things going on at once to keep track of as Cole continued to squeeze past people. There were couples standing on the sides, people chatting upstairs, some of them munching away at the snack table, and much more.

Right as he got to the other side of the building, he leaned against the rail and dropped his head into his arms.

"Well, if it isn't Cole -"

Cole's head shot up and his muscles tensed. He spun around on his heels as his stomach twisted.

"Oh… No…"

He noticed Jay and Kai leaning against the wall with a drink in both their hands. Cole flinched.

 _He did not just..._

"I didn't think that you would make it." Kai's eyelids were closed halfway and his mouth was curved upwards in a thin line.

"I'm not here to join the party, Kai. I'm here to make sure you two are okay."

"Haaah, okay? We're totally okay. Right, Jay?"

Jay nodded, looking the same as Kai. "C'mon, Cole, just stay here for a bit longer."

"No. I'm not staying, and I'm not letting you two either. Someone's gotta make sure you guys get back to your rooms safely."

"Safely? Cole we can get back to our dorms without you -" Kai clinked his glass against Jay's and drank, while Jay pointed at Kai using his thumb with a smirk on his face. Cole looked around awkwardly.

Finally he said, almost whisper, "You guys are drunk."

The two exchanged glances and burst into laughter. Kai put a hand on Cole's shoulder. "We just drank a lot, that's all."

"That's basically what being drunk is."

Jay stepped between Cole and Kai. "We're not drunk, I wouldn't have come if I knew I could get drunk."

 _It's a party!_ Cole screamed in his head, wanting to strangle both Kai and Jay. He put a hand to his face and groaned. Suddenly, both Kai and Jay had slung their arms over his shoulder. Cole's brows knitted together.

"You're just a party pooper - hah… Hah hah…. Haaaaah!" Cole felt himself tipping from side to side, while the other two were slowly swaying themselves. He grabbed both their arms and pulled them off, pushing them back against the wall.

"You. Two. Are. Completely out of it!" He threw his arms up in the air and ground his teeth together. Jay attempted to take a step forward but ended up leaning to the right. Cole caught him and stood him up beside Kai.

"How bout, you just give us a ride home then, huh, Cole?" Kai suggested as he elbowed Cole in the arm. Jay nodded.

"You guys didn't drive here… You _walked_." growled Cole.

"We what? Oh yeah! Heh… Well then you _don't_ have to give us a ride home!"

"Yeah I don't, but I'm _walking_ you two back to your rooms. This isn't healthy."

The two of them looked like a complete mess, especially Kai.

Zane was right, maybe he should've tried to talk both Jay _and_ Kai out of coming. However, seeing how it didn't seem like the first time Kai's done something like this, Cole wondered if Nya knew about Kai and his parties. He snatched the glasses out of their hands and glanced around for the nearest table.

He caught sight of one all the way across the room. Just about ready to explode, Cole calmed himself and turned to the two drunkies.

"You two stay here. Not like that'll happen, but I hope you two are drunk enough to just stay in one spot."

He bit on his lower lip before finally crossing the room to put the glasses away.

Thankfully when he returned they were both still there. Kai, wandering by the restrooms.

Once they were all outside, Cole watched as both Kai and Jay high-fived each other for no specific reason. He nudged each of them to start walking and he followed behind, making sure one of them didn't trail off or fall.

This was officially the worst night ever. Worse than when he had to play some video game at Kai's room. Luckily this whole being drunk thing wouldn't last long, right?

* * *

Cole closed the door shut, his eyes tired from the night he'd had. A thump sounded from behind him and he turned around to find Jay collapsed on the bed.

 _His_ bed.

Cole chewed on the inside of his cheek.

"Um, you still aw-"

"Kai, why's Cole still here?"

Cole sighed and walked over to his bed, trying to pull Jay off.

"Jay, Kai's gone. We dropped him off like five minutes ago… and also, you're on my bed. Get off."

"This is _my_ bed, you dummy!"

" _My_ bed!"

"Sleep on your bed!"

" _You're_ in my bed!"

"Hah hah haaaaaaaaaaaa… good times."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm gonna head to sleep now."

"What?"

"Since when did my bed get softer?"

"You haven't even changed -"

"When I wake up, imma beat the heck out of Cole. He's annoying."

Cole opened his mouth to speak as did raise his hand, but soon realized it was no use and lowered his arm. He sat on the edge of the bed which Jay had not taken up and put his face into his hands. Jay buried his face into the pillow.

Instead, he stood up and picked up a fairly thick book from his desk, coming back to sit down on the bed.

"You know, I'm actually going to enjoy this more than feel bad about it." He lifted the book above Jay's head and slammed it down just hard enough to knock him out.

Finally, Jay had stopped mumbling, and Cole collapsed backwards, staring,at the ceiling, his eyes slowly closing. Cole was no doubt, dead tired. All up for sleeping into the next day.

He told himself not to fall asleep or else he would've spent the entire night sleeping over Jay's tired body. Which wasn't good for his back, and for Jay's. Groaning, he pushed himself up and stumbled onto his feet. Reaching over, he pulled the blanket over Jay and dropped the book by his side.

When he finished, he slipped into his nighttime clothes and stood in front of Jay's bed. He quickly glanced back at Jay, who was completely motionless, lying on Cole's bed.

Cole cursed under his breath and plopped onto Jay's bed, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

Kai had called himself a hero, a wizard, and some other thing he couldn't quite remembered as he walked the guy back to his dorm.

And Jay was sleeping on his bed.

If only it was Nya who'd came to drag Kai out of there. He chuckled softly to himself. Boy, he would've loved to see that.

* * *

 **Pretty long chapter but ey *shrug***


	22. Friends are Family

**So, saw the LEGO Batman Movie opening day and I gotta say, it was amazing! Go see it if you haven't yet! This chapter name is also a reference to the movie! ;) I also realized I haven't mentioned anything about the LEGO Ninjago trailer in my chapter(s) yet. I know you guys saw it already since it came out, I think last week? What do you guys think of it?**

 **Also, if you're the kind of person who likes catching references, there are a few in here. There's a couple Gravity Falls ones if I remember correctly, especially since yesterday was the first anniversary of the finale. Ah, memories. There's also an MLP Legend of Everfree one somewhere in here... And I forgot if there were more XP but keep your eyes out!**

* * *

"Hey, Cole - Cole wake up. It's -"

Jay was greeted by a slap to the face. He stumbled backwards and rubbed his cheek. Gosh that had stung.

He didn't know what the big deal was. When he woke up, he found his position to the wall different then when he would sleep in his actual bed, so Jay assumed he was sleeping upside down on his bed. But when he rolled to the side, he saw _his_ posters plastered all over the side of the room Cole was on. At last, he realized he wasn't sleeping in his own bed.

He didn't know how he ended up in Cole's bed. He wasn't even sure why Cole was in the other's bed in the first place. However, when Jay crossed the room to Cole, he noticed from the corner of his eye that the ground looked darker and the clouds shadowing above. He leaned closer and pressed his face against the glass, watching the rain pour.

"Ow - hey! What was that for?"

Cole shifted under the covers and stared at Jay from the position he was currently in.

"That… Was for one, getting drunk when I told you _not_ to drink too much; two, for being annoying with Kai; and three, for taking my spot and falling asleep without even changing."

Jay blinked.

"Ohhhhhh so _that's_ how I ended up in your bed."

Cole hissed and threw the covers over his head.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry, kay? Kai promised me nothing would happen… I didn't think I'd drink too much then, but I did and I'm angry at myself too, kay?" He plopped down onto the bed and lifted his feet, sitting criss-cross. "Anyways… I wanted to tell you it's raining… A lot…"

"That all?"

"Hey, no need to be so cold about it. And I was really hoping we could chillax at the park and maybe… Stop by the mall? But I guess it's too late now - stupid rain. I was thinking of asking Lloyd to come tho-"

Cole didn't move or make a sound.

"... But I guess you're not in the mood right now."

Cole poked his head back out from underneath and glared at Jay. "Look, Jay. Sorry to burst your bubble, but what _you_ thought about not getting high but doing so anyways… that's just your imagination. A fantasy. Here, it's reality. It doesn't always work out as well as it does in your head."

The ginger opened his mouth but then held his tongue, eventually realizing Cole was right. When he looked back, the other had already ducked back under the covers.

Jay crouched down and plucked the end of the blanket, lifting it so he could see Cole underneath.

"Okay, ya… you're right. Can we just forget about this and start the day?"

Cole tore the sheet from Jay's fingers and closed himself back under.

"Aw, really?!"

He waited a few moments until suddenly, an idea struck him and he grinned mischievously. He tried to pry the covers off Cole once more, and when half of it finally slipped off, he beamed. Cole shivered when the blanket left him. Jay then crawled onto the bed and sat behind Cole, before poking him once on his arm. Cole flinched.

Jay's mouth fell into what almost seemed to be a frown and he nudged Cole's head forward a bit. Cole grunted. Finally, Jay pulled the pillow from underneath Cole's head and set it down beside Cole's head. He flopped down onto his back, and rested his head against the pillow, smiling with ease.

"So… How bout we just do this every night, huh?"

Cole still didn't respond.

"We could just use your bed as storage. That sounds good! Besides, like you said, I went to bed without changing, so it's probably already dirty. Anyhoooo…" He flipped around so that he was facing Cole's back. He brought his knees up to his chest, and pressed his feet against Cole's back, pushing. "Time… To… Get… Up!" Jay pushed as hard as he could with his feet, using the wall for support. "Come _on_ , Cole. I said I'm sorry, just get out of bed! _Please_. Please. Please. Please. Please. _Pleaaaase_."

Without warning, Cole walked out of bed, keeping his back faced to Jay as he stretched his arms.

Jay smiled and bounced off the bed. "So, you wanna go outside? We can grab some breakfast first, I mean, obviously we need food right? And then we can phone up Lloyd and Kai?"

"I don't… want to hang around Kai for a while."

"You serious? It's not his fault! Come on, Cole! It was mine! I shouldn't have gone if I had known something like that would happen, and I made a promise that I wouldn't do it… but I did. It's probably like the fourth promise I've broken. _To you_."

Cole looked around the room once Jay fell silent behind him.

"Can we just _please_ forget about it and have fun?" Jay finally said.

The room fell silent again and Jay took a couple steps backwards to the bed, sitting down. He heard the bed creak beside him and Jay looked up. Cole let out a breath. "You know, it's okay… No big deal, lesson learned, right? At least you had some fun…"

"Heh," Jay said with a chuckle. "You know, Kai _was_ right about one thing…" he murmured, hoping Cole wouldn't hear.

"What was that?"

 _Oh shoot._

Jay started at Cole like he hadn't said a thing. "Uh, what was what?"

"You said something - I didn't quite catch it."

"I said… you know…" he continued on, much softer so Cole wouldn't hear.

"Jay."

"YouknowKaiwasrightaboutonething…"

"For the love of - stop muttering and just tell me!"

Jay let out a puff of air and let his eyes fall to the floor. "I _said,_ you know, Kai was right about one thing."

"And what might that be?"

"Well - it was that - I don't want to sound - er. We've only known each other for like… 5 months…" Jay scratched the back of his neck, feeling the blood rush. He'd always been an only child. And what if Cole wasn't? What would he think if he told him what Kai said? Maybe Cole really _didn't_ enjoy having a roommate. Jay closed his eyes and said quickly, "He said that you were like my big brother."

When Cole didn't respond, Jay filled in the awkward pause to feel any less awkward.

"It was probably cause he was drunk or something, but he sounded like he meant it. He was just trying to get me to taste some of the drink but I said you didn't want me to. And then he just - ya - and you won't believe with what I responded with…" he put a hand to his forehead. "I feel awkward. Do you feel awkward? See, I'm an _only_ child so it's really… surprising for me and -"

"I ain't surprised…" Cole muttered.

Jay stopped. Startled.

"Wh-what?"

Cole thought to himself for a moment. He'd been an only child. He never grew up acting like the older sibling in the family, but he always did look out for people, no matter how he got along with them. When he was younger, at school, he'd always make sure no one was left out of team games, he made sure everyone was included in everything. And he watched out for the smaller kids during playtime.

And, now that he thought about it, it wasn't _just_ Jay, but he had came to that party last night to make sure Kai was alright too. Even though he hated to admit that Kai was probably the third thing on his mind, it still felt good to know that he left to check on Kai. Consider it… filling in for Nya. Cole smiled.

"Um, whatcha starin' at, _Dirtclod_?"

Cole's eyes grew wide when he realized what Jay had said and punched him in the arm. "No."

Jay laughed at Cole before rolling his eyes. His lips then formed a thin line. "I'm hungry."

"So am I." The mattress was beginning to mold back into its original shape once Cole got up. He opened one of his top drawers and looked through the things inside of it. "Let's get changed and grab some breakfast, ey?"

* * *

Lloyd came back with a water bottle and set it down on the table.

There was a pancake house not too far from the campus, so Jay had called up Lloyd and asked if he'd mind giving them a drive and having breakfast with them. The blonde happily accepted and made his way over to their dorm in less than ten minutes.

Back in the present, Jay was reading over the menu, his mouth watering at the pictures.

"We should come back here around the springtime!" He told the other two as he continued to read.

"You haven't even tried the food yet, Jay. How can you possibly say you want to come back?"

Lloyd laughed. "Well I've been here before, and the pancakes are yum! You gotta try the blueberry ones - they're soooooo good!"

Cole looked over his own menu, considering the blueberry pancakes.

And in less than a minute, a waitress was already by their table, waiting patiently for their order. She had a big closed smile on her face, and big baby-blue eyes. She took once glance around the table and placed her hands on her hips.

"How are you all doing today?"

Jay blinked, distracted by the birds outside.

"Fine! We're doing just fine!"

The lady nodded and pointed towards a menu. "My name is Elizabeth but people call me, Liz. What can I get for you today?"

"Uh, I'll have the Blue Blueberry Pancakes…" Cole said as he pursed his lips.

Liz looked to Lloyd. "Same as him!"

Finally, she turned to Jay. "Uh… the LEGO Pancake Tower? It just … sounds interesting…" he pressed his lips together and slouched, watching as Lloyd gave him a 'what?' face.

Jay shrugged back.

"Any drinks?"

"Water."

Both Cole and Jay said, out of sync.

Lloyd cast a glance at his water bottle, letting Liz know that he didn't need anything.

Once she left with the menus, Lloyd relaxed back into the booth chair and looked down into his lap, switching on his phone. Cole kept quiet and gazed out the window.

"You guys should've helped me with my order. I wasn't even ready yet!" Jay told them, ready to burst for making the stupidest decision.

"Hey, s'no big deal - try new stuff, right? I dunno what a LEGO Pancake Tower is… but it sounds… good?" Lloyd shrugged while he kept his eyes glued to the screen.

Jay shook his head glumly.

"I get you're just trying to make me feel better, but it ain't helping. Hah. Ha ha ha."

Lloyd snorted.

"Maybe it has real LEGO bricks?!"

"What - no! That can't be possible right? - oh my gosh it's beautiful!"

Lloyd slapped a hand against his thigh, laughing, as Jay's eyes widened at the sight of his breakfast meal.

"One LEGO Pancake Tower, enjoy!" Liz told Jay with a warm smile before heading to another table.

Jay stared at the food with awe. There _were_ real LEGO bricks. Stacked atop one another on opposite sides of the pancake tower in the middle, with a side of scrambled eggs. And at the very top of the tower sat one perfectly, shiny… well polished… minifigure. He tried hard not to squeal, because if he did he'd sound like a girl, but as he looked at the minifigure, he noticed how similar it looked to him. He started screaming internally and picked up the figure.

"OH my gosh! Guys, look! It looks like me!"

Lloyd stared with his mouth partially open. "That's… nice?"

Cole's mouth twisted and he tore his eyes off it. "That's really creepy. Mind throwing it away?"

Jay brought the figure close to his chest and scoffed. "How _dare_ you! It's my little LEGO self and I will keep it with me always. It'll watch you in your sleep, _Cole_!"

Suddenly, Liz was back at their table and set down two more plates. "And here ya are! You're two Blue Blueberry Pancakes! I'll getcha your waters! Can I get anything else for you three?"

"Er, no, I'm all good," Cole told her.

Lloyd nodded.

Jay lifted his new friend to her. "Do you know why he looks like me? It's a little weird, but cool."

"OH, that's probably just how he came out - our cooks always put a clean minifigure on top and try to mix them up a bit. I guess yours turned out… like you! Perfect, is it not?"

"You bet!" _I'll name him Jay Jr.!_ Jay thought with excitement.

"Well then, I'll be off helping other tables… let me know if you need anything!" She called as she danced over to the next few tables.

Cole popped a loose blueberry in his mouth. "People that chipper make me nervous."

Jay grinned and elbowed him.

"Okay, I guess not all people."

The raven-haired shook his head and tasted some of the pancake. His eyes lit up and he hummed. Boy, was it good. If only they had put more on the plate.

"Alright… it _is_ pretty tasty."

* * *

"Those cost like, hundreds of dollars, Jay. Just get something cheaper, like those earphones over there," Cole told him, pointing to the rack behind them.

"But you have headphones!"

"Yeah, I've had them for three _years,_ and they still work perfectly. Besides, I got them on a sale, so they were really really cheap. But these…" Cole sighed at the price they were placed at and stuffed it back on the shelf. "Just get some earphones. We've been standing here for fifteen minutes already."

"Hey, decisions are tough, dude. Chill out!" Jay wandered over to the other side and spotted some more headphones below. "Check these out! They're on a sale too!"

Cole raised a brow and peeked around the corner, catching a glimpse of the tag. Jay was right, they weren't too bad of a price. He looked to his friend and saw him smiling at the box.

"Have you ever had a pair of headphones?"

Jay looked up and tilted his head slightly to the right. "Yeaaah… but my parents bought em for me, so they were really cheap. A knock-off if you ask me." He lifted the box at Cole. "But these are really nice!"

"Well who's stopping you from getting them?"

After Jay purchased those headphones, they ended up walking into a convenience store, and Jay thought they might have been carrying the same headphones he had just bought.

Cole drifted into the pens and pencils, Jay not far behind him.

He heard Jay stifle a laugh and he spun around, seeing him twirl a marker in his hand.

"Ya know if I bought this…"

Cole faked a laugh. "You do that and you're dead to me." Jay put the marker down and left Cole to window shop or whatever.

In the meantime, he stalked past the entrance to the store and saw rain still falling, however, it was lighter than before. Jay pulled out his phone and went to check the weather for the next week. Relief washed over him when he saw that it was forecasted to be sunny for the next few days.

In all honesty, he didn't want it to rain anymore.

It made the day feel… gloomy… and boring. It made _him_ feel sad and boring too. As if all the life and energy was drained right out of him. _The power of nature_ , Jay thought, rolling his eyes.

He decided to phone up Kai and ask how he'd been hanging since last night.

" _Hello?"_

"Heeeeey, Kai! How's is going?"

" _You sound nervous, are you okay?"_

"Yeah, I'm fine! Whabout you? You know, after the party and stuff last night…"

" _Oh. Yeah… That. Yeah that was a huge mistake."_

Jay's froze. "Hah hah, what was that?"

" _That party… Going was a mistake. We probably should've just stayed out of it, or at least throw a party of our own."_

"Really?"

" _Also, I'm sorry bout what happened that night. Nya told me… And she wanted me to apologize to you… Soooo yeah."_

Jay laughed. Nya knew? How… Maybe Cole told her about it, especially Kai.

"Uh, no worries? I don't remember much from last night but Cole was pretty upset with me, so yeah. Thanks, I guess?"

" _Eh, same here,"_ and for a moment, Jay felt as if he could feel Kai shrugging. " _Nya was pretty upset about it too. Got to go! Kai - out!"_

Jay stood, staring at the doors as he tucked his phone away.

"You ready to go?" Cole asked from behind him. Jay jumped, surprised.

"Uh - uh, yeah. Hey guess what!"

Cole raised his brows, lifting his shoulders and letting them fall back down. "What?"

"Apparently, Kai thinks the party was a bad idea too."

* * *

 **I always saw Cole as a brotherly figure to the team in the show so why not put it in here? XP I bet you guys thought the same too.**

 ** _"Considering the blueberry pancakes..."_ \- consider the  coconuts! Consider its trees!**

 **Oh yeah, the LEGO pancakes... I got that idea from this article I found a couple months ago about a couple ordering a LEGO cake and jt looked amazing! I really had the urge to call Liz, Eliza lol.**

 **Anyways, I'm off on mid-winter break this week and I'll see if I can get one or two oneshots out there! I have a couple halfway done in my files but haven't finished any yet.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! And remember to check my bio for new notes on this FanFic**


	23. It's a Hard-Knock Life

Cole couldn't decide whether he liked having Jay constantly around him, or whether he hated it. Besides, Jay was his roommate, he _had_ to see him at some point of the day. Though, unfortunately, there was no way to avoid this day.

He tried to make up an excuse to get away from going to the arcade, but Jay always had some other reason that made Cole feel bad about not wanting to come. After at least five tries to not leave, Cole gave in and followed Jay to the car. The worst part about it was, Kai was tagging along with them.

To be honest, Kai didn't actually want to come too, but Jay… _persuaded_ him to come. The only difference was, Jay hadn't told Kai that Cole was coming with.

The two of them had recently got in another quarrel. It was a silly argument - Ronin was there too, he saw the whole thing go down. Since then, they refused to speak with each other.

Zane and Jay tried to talk things out to the two of them, but they had no interest in listening. In fact, as did Nya. She told them how hot-headed Kai was, and how easy it was to get on his nerves. So to try and fix things _his_ way, Jay decided to take them all out for a little fun!

They were going to the arcade!

As Kai stepped up to the car, he saw Cole sitting in the passenger seat and gasped. Slamming the door, as he fell into the back seat, he folded his arms across his chest and glared at Jay through the rear view mirror.

"Why's _he_ here?"

"Oh, I'm _pretty_ sure I mentioned Cole was coming," Jay lied, "you probably weren't listening."

Kai grumbled and slouched, tempted to kick the back of Cole's seat.

As if Cole had read his mind, he started to speak, his voice cold. "Don't you _dare_ , _Kai_." His eyes caught Kai's in the mirror and he frowned.

"Yeah, whatever."

* * *

Once they reached the arcade, Jay started to lead them inside until Kai brushed past him swiftly, leaving Cole behind them all. Jay started walking slower so that Cole could catch up to him.

"So what exactly is your 'plan'?" Cole asked him.

"Ah, just having fun. Everybody loves to have fun! I'm sure you'll both forget about it once this is all over."

"Why do I have to spend the day with him?" Cole asked through tight teeth.

"I'm sure you two will make up and everything will be back to normal." Jay told him.

Cole raised a brow as he eyed Jay from the corner of his eyes.

"Well, ya know what they say… It's a hard-knock life!" Jay told him with playful elbow to the arm. Suddenly, the ginger pushed Cole forward and gave him two thumbs up before adding: "Now go have fun!"

Cole sighed.

* * *

Taking them to the arcade certainly did help, because a few games later, they were acting more friendly around each other again. Sure, they continued the teasing, especially when playing against each other, but other than that, everything was all good.

Jay smiled as he watched the two of them race against each other. They were finally getting along again… And, it looked like so much fun. He hadn't realized that he had pulled himself farther away from the two of them, and was standing by a claw machine instead.

His eyes fell to the floor and he deeply sighed.

He was beginning to feel left out.

Maybe he shouldn't have had Kai and Cole make up with each other here, at the arcade. Maybe he shouldn't have had Kai come along with them. Maybe he should've just left with Cole. Maybe _he_ shouldn't have come. Maybe he _should_ have done it elsewhere, somewhere where he wouldn't feel so…

Alone.

He stalked towards the two of them and stood between the race chairs.

"Hey, could I play next?"

"Uh, just a minute, Jay." Kai kept his eyes glued to the screen.

"Sure!"

And so he waited.

When they finally finished, they went to play another round as if they had forgotten Jay was there. Jay didn't mind and waited again. At the end of the second round, Kai had dragged Cole to another game, abandoning Jay.

The ginger put on a smile and followed behind slowly. It was fine, he told himself. It was fine.

A claw machine grabbed his attention and he drifted off to the machine, staring down at the prizes.

"I'm gonna go try out the claw machine!" He called to them.

 _Just one try wouldn't hurt_ , he thought.

Soon one try turned into two tries, and next three, and so on and so forth until he got to his fifth try.

When the claw finally dropped a prize, Jay gasped and reached down to grab it, happiness taking over him. He had never won a claw machine game before and he never expected to win; those things were incredibly hard to come by when it came to winning. Excited to show the others, he pulled it out. An ocean blue pillow, with two black dots and a _u_ shaped smile on the top of the pillow.

"Hey, guys!" He started, turning around, "look what I -" when he opened his eyes, no one was there.

"Won…"

A knot twisted in his stomach and he forced the corners of his lips upwards. "Y-Yeah, I'll… catch up…"

He finally found Cole and Kai, standing by a Jeopardy game. The thought of joining them in the game put a smile back on his face, but as he walked forward he stopped and bit his bottom lip, looking down at the pillow under his arm. He took a few steps backwards before spinning around to find someplace to sit.

Though, he hadn't gotten far enough before Cole grabbed his shoulder and spun him back the other direction.

"Where ya going?"

"Oh, I was just going to find a place to sit…"

"You don't wanna play any games with us?"

Jay swallowed and shook his head. "Naw, you two look like you're having fun." He lied. In all honesty, he did want to play with them. With his roommate. His friend.

He started to back up again until Cole spoke up.

"Hey, Jay, you don't mind if I sit in the back with Kai, do you? On the way back home that is…" Cole asked from behind. Jay flinched and froze, keeping a smile on his face.

"No! Nah, not at all, go ahead! What kind of friend would I be… if I didn't let you sit where you wanted to… right?"

Cole beamed and gave Jay a hearty pat on the back. "Thanks, _Zaptrap._ "

* * *

The next few days were interesting.

Cole walked beside Kai through the cafeteria, their eyes darting back and forth until one of them caught sight of Jay or Zane.

As the two of them looked for a place to sit, Cole gazed to the side, trying to recall the past few days.

Usually, Jay was always blabbering non-stop, as if he had something new to tell him everyday. But ever since that day at the arcade, Jay had remained silent, avoiding eye contact with Cole anytime they met and barely even saying a word.

He looked to Kai and scratched the back of his neck.

"Hey, do you know why Jay's been… quiet lately?"

"Quiet? Pfh, that doesn't sound like Jay. He's probably just upset about a grade or somethin'. C'mon, let's go sit over there." Kai pointed to a bench inside the building. Cole followed as Kai went to take a seat. He pulled out his phone and used it as a mirror to check his hair. Cole raised a brow.

"Anywaaaays, I'm gonna go use the bathroom real quick and I'll be right back. Hopefully Zane or Lloyd spots us." He stood up but stopped before leaving, "or Jay."

Once Kai was gone, Cole took out his own phone and turned it on, staring at his messages. _No new messages,_ he read to himself, a feeling of worry washing over him.

Maybe Jay was just going through that phase where you feel all depressed for some reason. Not to lie, it's happened to him before, and he wouldn't be surprised if it happened to Jay. Or anyone in that matter.

Jay did seem to be getting along well around Zane though, and Lloyd too. However, when he was near Kai, he would fall silent, then around Cole, he went into complete silent mode. That meant that he was definitely a part of the reason Jay was acting this way.

Cole didn't want to think about it.

Suddenly, he spotted Jay coming towards him from a distance. Cole stuffed his phone away and inhaled sharply, not sure what to expect when Jay neared him.

At first, Jay had a bright smile on his face as he came closer, though as soon as Kai came back, his smile slowly deepened, but he continued towards them.

"Hey, Jay. What's up?" Kai asked.

"Nothin'..."

He sat down on the other side of Kai and pulled out his lunch.

Minutes later, Zane found them and Jay moved aside to make room.

"I wonder where Lloyd is…" Kai said as he watched Jay and Zane. He looked to the right of him and saw Cole eating silently, staring off into the distance.

* * *

Cole noticed Jay sitting at his desk, a textbook opened. It was rare to catch Jay doing homework, but it always put a smile on his face to see Jay taking responsibility.

"Hi."

Jay didn't answer and continued to focus on his math homework.

"Hey, you doing okay? You've been… Avoiding me for the past few days."

"No, I'm all good." Jay replied, furrowing his brows as he thought through the next problem. Before Cole could say anything, Jay asked, "Do you think you could help me with my homework?"

"Could you at least tell me what's going on first?"

"What? Nothing's wrong. I just need some help."

Cole saw a flash of hurt in Jay's eyes.

"You've been really quiet these last few days - you haven't really been yourself."

"I can grab you some paper if you need it to work out this problem."

"I didn't say I'd help you."

"Well why wouldn't you? We live in the same room, take most of the same courses, are friends, and who knows, this could come in handy when you get assignments like this." Jay added a wink. Cole snorted. At least he was kind of back to his original self.

"I'll help, unless you tell me what bothering you. And I know it has something to do with me…"

"Like I said, totaaalllyyy fine. So will you help me now?"

Cole groaned and picked up a pencil, reading over the problem in the book. As he explained to Jay how to do it, the younger one considered telling Cole, but still kept it to himself.

While Jay worked, Cole read ahead and tried working them out on his own before Jay could get to them.

They worked for about fifteen minutes.

No distractions.

No goofing around.

No nothing that would pull Jay away from his priorities. Until...

"I was… Kind of… Jealous of you and Kai."

Cole dropped his pencil.

"Come again?"

"You had asked what was bothering me before. I just told you."

"Um, what exactly is there to be jealous of? None of us are dating or anything."

"No, it's not that… it's just weird, seeing your friend hang out with someone else."

"That's how life is, Jay. You have a couple friends here and another bunch over here, they hang out together and you got a whole group of people who care about you."

Jay frowned. He never had many friends before, at least, not for a long time. They never stayed by him. Jay wondered if they were even his friends in the first place, he wondered if _he_ was even their friend at all.

"Well how would you feel?" Jay thought out loud. He hadn't realized that those words had slipped through.

"Excuse me?"

"How would you feel if your friends _never_ replied back to you? Because that's exactly what happened to me! I made friends! Every single year! We were friends for only a school year then I lost them the next. _That's_ how it went for me, Cole. I never had a friend who's stayed by my side for so long. The only time I did have someone like that was in high school, but I guess no one even _wants_ to stick around. He left me on the last year… But when I saw you… I knew things were gonna be different." He swallowed, letting his arms fall to his side. "I thought, 'maybe I can finally make a real friend. Maybe I finally won't be alone.'"

Cole stood, speechless.

Jay stopped and stared at Cole with worrisome eyes. His frown deepened and the light in his eyes dimmed, making Cole's stomach turn.

"If you don't want to help with my math homework, it's fine, I'll just go ask Zane…" He threw on a coat and picked up his books, slowly making his way to the door.

"Jay, wait -"

The younger one froze in front of the door, waiting for Cole to continue.

When no words left the other, Jay sighed. "See ya tonight."

And with those words, he opened the door, slipping out and closing it softly.

* * *

 **I'm sure we can relate to Jay at some point in our lives XD**

 **Anyone who watches SVTFOE though... That season finale on Monday... Luckily we don't have to wait too long for Season 3! And Season 4 is confirmed! YAY!**

 **ALSO have you guys heard Auli'i singing with the little girl Claire?! It warms my heart so much, and just makes me feel all good inside.**


	24. Just Likes to Schedule Away

**Agh! Sorry bout the hours delay! Had a lot of stuff to get done, and wasn't completely done with this chapter either. But I hope you're all doing as well as I am! I think my obsessions with Moana has gone way too far lolz. Over the weekend my mom found me a Moana poster and knew I would totally want to get it. So now my desk has a ton of Moana stuff everywhere, including my ceramic Moana box from art class. Oh I even got the DVD! And after months of waiting... XD since my brother preordered it for me as a Christmas gift.**

 **ANYWAYS ENOUGH MOANA TALK, RIGHT? This is a Ninjago fanfic so :P ... I'm just so happy about all this stuff**

 **BTW, have you all seen the new Hands of Time episodes in English?! Finally the wait is over! XD**

 **Anyhoo, enjoy!**

* * *

When Jay came back that day, he found Cole already fast asleep, an arm draping off the edge of the bed. Jay couldn't help but smile.

At least he wouldn't have to hear Cole's voice for the rest of the day.

And he was pretty sure Cole was happy the same way - not having to deal with Jay for the time being.

He dressed into his nighttime clothes and silently wriggled under the blankets.

He felt like he had overreacted last night, especially when he left to ask Zane for help instead. Maybe he did overreact, maybe he was acting a bit too… clingy. But in his defense, he hated the feeling of being alone, it haunted him since grade school, always making him feel smaller than everything else in the world.

He sighed to himself and stared up at the ceiling.

He would apologize, first thing tomorrow.

Then, he would feel better.

* * *

Jay rolled his head before prying his eyes open. The light flashed in Jay's face and he threw the covers over him, hissing. It was nice and warm under the covers, as was it dark.

He stayed there for a while until peeking back out and squinting. His gaze drifted over to Cole's bed and he saw it already made up like no one was ever there in the first place. Just as he was about to get up, he heard the door creak open.

Cole walked in, head tilted down with a bag of chips in his hands. Jay watched silently as Cole went to sit on his bed, taking a quick glimpse at Jay.

"Hey…" Jay heard himself say.

"Hey," Cole said back.

They stared at each other in silence.

Jay swallowed. _Come on, Jay. Just apologize already._

But what would happen _after_ he apologized? What would Cole do next? Would he forgive Jay and act like nothing happened? That seemed to happen a lot lately. Or would Cole continue to hang out with Kai and… who knows who else? Or would he go back to feeling lonely again?

Ever since he came into this school, seeing how he was paired with a roommate gave him hope. Hope that he would never have to worry about losing friends ever again, and hope that he could always have someone by his side. Jay realized he had been worked up too much. And because of that, all that hope went away instantly the moment he saw Cole and Kai getting along. He knew he had other friends. He knew he couldn't just depend on Cole all the time, but the younger one had gotten used to having someone like him around all the time.

Jay sat up in bed and rubbed his forehead, the crunching of chips echoing in his ear.

"Cole…"

"Mhmm?" Cole answered, brow perked up.

"I… I … Last night was…"

"Last night sure was something."

Jay gulped.

"Yeah, _something_."

"Did you really mean all of that? When you said your 'friends' never replied back, and… about me?"

"Well… yeah…"

Cole put the bag of chips to the side and stood up, stretching. Jay's eyes fell to the floor.

"Look, Jay. I'm sorry if we made you feel left out at the arcade, honestly, that's gotta be one of the worst feelings ever. And I'm sorry your 'friends' never answered you when you called to them, and that's… also not a great feeling. But life is complicated. It's not all great. It won't change things just for you. Just… be glad that there are people out there who care about you. Some people aren't as lucky as you. They may have gone their whole life with no friends or family at all."

Cole paused.

"I'm actually… flattered you think that way of me. Most people think I'm too hard-headed and don't necessarily like to hang out with me all the time."

Shocked, Jay looked back up at Cole.

"For real? But… I mean… You're not a bad person to be around. Er -" Jay

"I get what you're trying to say, and you don't need to try and make a big deal out of it. Just tell me when you feel down like that again, kay? Don't go avoiding me just because of that. It would've really helped if you told me sooner. In fact, it would've helped _everyone_ if you told em about it."

Jay rubbed his hand against his thigh. "Ehh, I don't feel that comfortable telling _everyone_ yet. Let's just, keep it a secret? For now?"

Cole looked in question at first, but he then nodded.

He turned around to grab a water bottle until-

"By the way, I just came back from Kai's room, and he showed me this-" Cole pulled out his phone and swiped to a picture of a flyer.

"Spring Fair?" Jay read.

"Mhmm, with Spring coming up soon and all that. It's sometime next month, but the guys and I were thinking that we should go. Whaddya think?"

Jay took Cole's phone into his hands and skimmed over the poster fully, knitting his brows together in thought.

"Looks like Jay Walker _does_ have something to do over Spring break after all."

* * *

The next day, Jay saw Nya sitting by the library window, her nose in a book. His eyes grew wide and he dashed to the library entrance, searching for the table Nya was at.

She didn't seem to hear him coming, as the bright eyed Jay pulled out a chair and took a seat beside her. Nya lifted her head at the sound, her curious expression soon changing into a smile.

"Hey, Jay, whaaat are you doing here?"

"I just saw you from the window aaannd ya… Did I come in at the wrong time?"

Nya shook her head. "No, it's all good." She closed her book and set it down on the table. "I've been wondering…"

Jay's head perked up. "Well isn't everyone? I mean that's kinda what we do a lot - we wonder… Right?" He felt the back of his neck getting hotter.

Nya chuckled. "Anyways, I have this some Book Club things I need to get done by next week, and I was wondering if you'd be available tomorrow night. I thought maybe I could come over and work on it there. I could, ya know, ask for your thoughts on some of the ideas."

"Tomorrow night? Uh - y- ya, sure! Uh, I'm - I'm not doing anything!" He stuttered and threw his hands under the table, fumbling with them nervously.

"Awesome!" Jay felt the table vibrate and he looked down. "Oops, that's my phone!" Nya picked up her phone and checked to see what the buzz was all about. "I gotta go… Wish I could stay longer. I'll see you tomorrow night?" Nya asked as she stood up, a quirky grin on her face.

Jay nodded.

* * *

"Dooooon't! Cole, nooooo!" Jay whined as he dropped his head onto the table. "Why did you do that?!"

"Uh, to score a point? I'm not on your team, Jay."

"Yeah well I was just about the get the flag until you shot me!"

Cole laughed. "This would've been more fun in real life."

Jay huffed.

The two of them were playing a virtual game of Capture the Flag merged with Paintball. Cole sat on his side of the room, leaning against the wall on his bed, while Jay sat _on_ _top_ of his desk, with a laptop in his laps.

Yes, Jay had finally saved up enough money to buy a laptop of his own. Surprising, yes. Impossible? Not really. At last, Jay was able to play games without carrying around a video game console. And finally, Jay was able to use it for _his_ own homework. However, he could tell it really bothered Cole. Anytime he tried to ask him a question, Jay would have his eyes constantly glued to the screen, the lid never closing.

"You know, it actually _would_ be more fun irl."

An idea came to mind and he minimized the game tab, heading straight for the search engine. Finally, he found what he was looking for, and stepped down, hopping onto his swivel chair and twirled around in it, taking his laptop with him. He pushed himself towards his roommate and put the laptop on the bed.

"Check it ouuuuut," he said as he pointed at the screen.

Cole closed his halfway and scrolled through Jay's.

"Ultimate Paintball in the Park?"

Jay nodded while he rested his chin on top of his arms.

"It's tomorrow night, we should totally go!"

"But we're already going to the carnival…?"

"Psh, that's not until a month! We still got time, and besides, this sounds fun too!" He shifted the laptop so that he too could see the screen and put his finger on the touchpad, scrolling through the page. "Look at it! There's two teams, it starts at 5 PM at the park, the one by the shelter, and we even get our own gear to wear! The rent fee isn't a lot so - oh! Oh! Check this out! The winning team gets tickets, one for each, for the upcoming Spring Fair!"

Cole put a hand to his face.

"For real? I mean, it's great and all, but now I'm beginning to feel like I shouldn't have mentioned about the Carnival till _after_ tomorrow."

"Aw, lighten up! This will be fun! I can see if Kai, Lloyd, and Zane wanna come to!"

" _Sure? Why not?_ "

After sending the texts, Jay shot him a dead look. "You're not excited about it, are you?"

"I've never been a fan of paintball in real life." Jay tipped back in shock. "I know, I know… It's fun online, but when you're playing it in real life-" Cole's shoulders tensed, "it's actual paint, Jay."

"You're afraid of paint?" Jay snorted. "And FYI, it's actually _more_ fun irl."

"No, I just… Don't want it getting all over me… and stop using those acronyms."

"It makes you sound cool! Also, that's silly. Really. I mean c'mon. On the bright side, you get eyewear and a vest and stuff. You'll be fine!" Jay heard a ding from behind and he spun around, grabbing his phone. "Hey, would ya look at that?"

He raised his phone for Cole to see.

"They said 'yes'."

Cole inhaled sharply and stared at the wall across the room.

" _Oh boy."_

* * *

 **Oh boy, indeed, Jay's got a bit of a problem here... Guess he's beginning to forget things. Soooo, Nya's coming over the night they're going to paintball, right?... Hmmm... Oh whale!**


	25. Paint Paint Paint

**Sorry for the hourly delay but it's still a Thursday so no worries! This chapter is pretty long but onwards we go!**

* * *

Paintball.

One thing Cole feared the most was letting himself get blasted by paint on a grassy field in the dark.

Lucky for him, it wasn't going to be too dark out, but it was still the same game.

He buckled in his seat belt and set the plastic bag on the floor by his feet. It wasn't much, really. Just a spare change of clothes in case the ones he was wearing right now happened to get paint on it.

The radio switched on and Cole cringed at the music. He looked over to Jay as the car started, and saw him bopping his head to the music. He didn't know how Jay could stand this type of music, nowadays, the music on the radio was all about finding love and whatnot.

"This is gonna be so much fun!"

* * *

The park was huge.

It was definitely a lot bigger than Jay last remembered.

As the two of them walked towards the front of the park, Jay noticed two poles with a flag.

One blue. One red.

Beside the two poles there were fairly large tent like structures set-up.

 _Those are probably the bases_ , Jay thought to himself and walked over to the blue tent, Cole following closely behind. There was a woman standing in the back corner, putting on some gear and looking over his material. Jay gasped.

The woman heard that gasp and turned around to reveal a thick visor over her eyes and attached to the helmet on her head.

"Hm, who are you?"

"Huh? Uh, oh! We came to play! … Are we too early?"

The woman raised a brow at first, then shook her head.

"Not at all, you guys are good." She moved around the table that stood between them and put a hand on her hip. "So have you guys played paintball before?" They shook their heads. "Well, if you know the basics you should be fine. One more thing - because this is a free for all kind of paintball game, the paints we're using are a bit different."

"What do you mean?"

"A majority of paintball tournaments use paints that have a lot of pressure. Since we go around setting up paintball tournaments in different places, we design our own paints and paintball guns." She lifted one of the guns up and held one of the paints in her hand. "See this? Less pressure but it still gets out more paint."

Jay and Cole both nodded.

"It won't make much of a difference but it does less harm. Do you mind?"

Jay shook his head slowly, not quite sure if she was talking to him.

In less than a second, he felt something hit his chest. He looked down to see she had shot him with the paint. He chuckled. She was right. It didn't hurt much, but there was quite a lot of paint on there.

She set the gun and pain down, walking over to a nearby smaller table. "Since you boys are here early, how bout you put on some gear?"

After she handed them their vests and such, she modeled how to put them on at the front.

It took Jay a while to actually get it all fitted, but Cole on the other hand was dressed from head to toe in less than five minutes.

Later on, the two of them walked out of the tent and sat on a bench, watching as the sun started to set.

"So what now?"

"Now… We wait." Jay told him with a smile. "Kai should be here any minute now."

The minutes ticked by and Jay slouched in his seat, groaning. Neither Kai nor Zane had showed up and it was already getting close to 5. Tons of people were already showing up, splitting into teams of red and blue. And as people showed up, Jay stayed seated on the bench.

Cole had left ten minutes ago to find a snack to munch on. Jay had told him that it wasn't a good idea, especially right before the game started, but Cole had been craving for a snack since lunch time.

Jay felt a buzz and pulled out his phone, seeing that Kai had just sent a message.

 _sry it's taking a while. Zane wasn't ready. Be there in 5_

Jay tensed. That was how much time was left _till_ 5 PM.

The lady from before stalked over to them and placed a hand on the top of the bench, leaning inwards.

"You two have been sitting here for a while now. You should come in and help other people set up." She cast a glance at Jay's phone screen and chuckled. "Don't worry, it doesn't officially start till 5:30 ish. He'll be fine. By the way, name's Cassandra, but I prefer you call me Cas on the battlefield, kay?"

Jay nodded.

"Sure thing."

* * *

At last, Kai, Lloyd, and Zane had showed up. Surprisingly, Lloyd was already dressed in his own gear with a huge smile on his face.

Kai waved at Jay and started walking towards him.

"He had his own stuff already." Kai said as he pointed a thumb at Lloyd.

Lloyd ran up next to Kai. "I _love_ paintball! Used to play with my Dad all the time. By the way, I would've killed you if you didn't invite me."

Jay let out a laugh. "Man, I wish I was friends with you when I was younger."

Lloyd burst into a fit of laughter and threw a hand on Kai's shoulder for balance as he started tipping back and forth. Jay's lips formed a thin line, thinking that he had said something wrong.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! N-no, no, no, n-" he struggled to keep his breath. "Noooooo, HAHA - no. My Dad had really strict rules. I mean, they weren't horrible, he's just a really protective guy." Lloyd looked to Kai. "I bet you remember that."

Kai punched Lloyd in the arm and growled.

"No. Never. Anywaaaays, I technically have my own gear back at home cause I played with Lloyd a lot… but I didn't think bringing it to college was necessary…" Kai added with a roll of his eyes.

Zane stood beside Lloyd. "I have never played paintball before… it's not dangerous is it?"

Jay laughed harder. "Nope. Nothing to worry bout, Zane." He stood up and slung an arm around Zane. "Alright, let's go find Cole."

"Uh, Jay, what are these for?" Kai asked, stopping Jay in his tracks.

He whirled around to see Kai pointing at the poles.

"Oh my gosh! Riiiight! I forgot about that… those are for the teams… Eh I was hoping we could all be on the same team…"

"We could do-" Lloyd began until Kai cut him halfway.

"How bout no? We play against each other it'll be tons more fun!"

"I do believe Kai has a point," Zane said.

Jay pursed his lips, a little disappointed with what Kai had said. It was true if they played on the opposite teams that thing would be a lot more fun, but Jay didn't want to play _against_ them. He wanted to have fun with them on the same team… He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming for them soon, but everyone else was too busy getting ready.

"Nnnn… uh… Sure! Let's do that!"

Just then, Cole returned with half a granola bar in his hands. "Finally made it? Cas told me to come and get you. She's gonna go over the rules and map really soon."

The rest stood there with eyes wide. Shrugging, Kai motioned for Lloyd to follow him onto the red team side. Zane started towards the blue tent.

"Ready to have some fun with paint?"

* * *

"Alright, remember the rules and have fun!" Cas said loudly before running out onto the field.

Jay ran out behind Zane and started running until he saw a tree and jumped behind it, crouching down slightly. He looked around for any red members or blue. When he didn't spot any, he poked his head around from the other side of the tree and saw a number of red players running towards the blue side.

He wondered if there was anyone guarding their flag.

He stepped out from behind the tree and charged, shooting the first few red players that his gaze fell upon.

Suddenly, Kai came charging in from the side, the gun readied in his hands. Jay gaped and raised his gun back at Kai, firing away.

Coincidentally, they both missed their shots.

Kai gritted his teeth together.

"Aw, c'mon!" Kai shouted as he shook the gun and lifted it again. When he realized Jay was out of sight, he lowered the gun and looked around the field. "What? Really? Dude, where'd you -"

He stopped when he felt something hit his back. Then came another few shots.

Kai turned around slowly to see Cole standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Gotcha."

The blue player winked.

"Didn't last long, did ya?"

"No fair!"

"Hey, don't be a sore loser."

Kai's frown deepened and he marched towards the blue tent angry and annoyed. Cole laughed as he watched him storm off, but quickly ducked when he saw a paintball heading straight for him. He spun around and shot the person who had tried to get him back and fisted his hand, mouthing _yes_.

He stopped when he noticed Jay from afar, motioning for Cole to meet him by the trees.

They met behind a bundle of trees and pressed their backs up against the trunks. Cole glanced to his right then shifted his gaze back to Jay.

"We need to get to the flag," Jay said and held the paintball gun close to his chest.

Cole nodded. He looked back around the trunk and scanned the area for players once again.

Looking back at Jay, he said, "You go to the right, I go to the left."

And they left with a nod.

At this point, Cole had let his fear slip away and started to just enjoy the moment.

He ran across the field until he was as close as he could get to the red team's flag. When he saw some more red players coming up from in front, he lifted the gun, shooting down every player.

Precision didn't seem to matter to him either.

Now, it was all just go, shoot, get the flag and come back alive. He couldn't waste anymore time.

Crouching down beside a bush, Cole looked over the top for any signs of Lloyd or any other red players.

He crept along the side of the bush and hoped that no one was waiting somewhere up ahead. He caught notice of the red flag, sitting just a few feet away from him on what almost looked like a miniature hill.

Across the field he saw Zane and Jay taking down another handful of red players.

Man, they were doing good! Cole grinned to himself and began marching towards the flag as fast as he could, but not too quick.

The loaded sound of a gun caught him off-guard. Cole spun around to face the other with his gun ready to shoot.

"You may have taken down almost the entire red team, but I'm still standing, so ha!" Lloyd said with a confident grin and kept his gun pointed at Cole.

Cole stuck his tongue out.

"Yeah, right. I bet Zane or Jay will come up from behind and -"

"Pfh, I got paint bombs."

Cole's eyes widened in shock. "What? When did they hand those out?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Eh, the red team got the most advantages on paint tools. Jealous?"

Cole's finger hovered over the trigger.

"Very. Too bad Kai didn't think of using any."

Lloyd raised a brow, the smug grin still on his face. His brows drew inwards once more. "Back away from the flag and I'll spare you."

"How bout _you_ back away from the flag and let my team win?"

Lloyd laughed. He dropped his finger on the trigger.

"Likely story."

The paint came flying at him fast and Cole's shoulders tensed up. He swiftly ducked down and took in a deep breath as he collapsed onto the ground, safe. He looked up at Lloyd and saw him dropping to a knee.

Once Lloyd fell, Cole saw Jay standing proudly behind him with a hand on his hip and his gun pointing up in the air.

He ran over to Cole and helped him up.

"Nice timing," Cole said to him as he grazed the grass and dirt off his vest.

Jay waved a hand.

"Psh, don't mention it."

Turning around to continue to the flag, Cole saw Zane stepping up and wrapping his fingers around the pole of the flag.

As soon as a horn blared, the remaining players gathered towards the center.

"Woohoo, Zane!" Cole cheered as he ran up to the other team member and wrapped his arms around Zane, embracing him in a hug. "Nice job, bud!"

Zane smiled. "Thank you. This is my first time, after all."

Jay stalked over to the two of them and gave Zane a hearty pat on the back. "Well ya did good."

* * *

Before they drove back to the college, Cole had insisted on changing or else he would've felt like he had brought those spare clothes for no reason.

The raven-haired went into the nearest restaurant and used their restrooms to change into his extra clean clothes.

On the way, back, Jay couldn't stop smiling. He had one heck of a night and couldn't ask for more. And of course, as promised, the winning team, _their_ team, got free tickets to the Spring Fair.

Unfortunately, neither Kai nor Lloyd were on the blue team, meaning they didn't get any tickets.

Cole had complained about Kai choosing to split teams on the way back to the college, but 1) Jay had eventually tuned out Cole's voice and 2) Cole had fallen asleep, with his head rested against the window.

Once they made it back, Jay rushed up the stairs, eager to get into bed.

Suddenly, he backed up and pressed his back against the wall, eyes wide with fear.

Cole, who was slowly coming up the stairs from having just woken up, finally made it and caught notice of this, raising a brow in question.

"Uh, what -" Jay's mouth gaped open and he yanked Cole beside him, slapping a hand over his mouth. The plastic bag hit the wall with a soft _thud._

" _Shhhhhhh!_ " He whispered loud enough for Cole to hear, his eyes shooting daggers at the other. " _I forgot that Nya was coming over_ …"

Cole shook Jay's hand off his wrist and use the other hand to pull down the hand over his mouth. Cole licked his lips once the hand had left, shooting Jay an unimpressed face.

"Seriously?"

"Uh… yeah?"

The raven-haired teen took a peek around the corner of the wall and saw Nya standing there with her eyes glued onto her phone. He wondered how long she had been standing there.

"So what are you gonna do about it?" Cole asked him.

Jay tensed. "I-I dunno! I thought maybe you could come up with something…"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeaaaaaaah, um, lemme think. Just gimme a sec."

After a few minutes, Jay finally came up with a good enough plan that he believed was sure to pass by Nya. It wasn't that he assumed Nya was stupid, he just had a feeling it would work. And even if it didn't he was sure Nya would've played along to see where it was was headed.

He turned to Cole and pointed at him.

"You're wearing something under that sweatshirt of yours, right?"

Cole felt as if he had been struck in the head and looked to Jay, not sure whether the red on his face was cause of embarrassment or the question in general.

"Um, yah?" he answered, fingers slowly crawling towards the hem of the sweatshirt as a sign that he wanted it to stay _on_.

"Good." Jay put his arms by his side. "Take it off."

"No - what?"

"Take it off!"

"Jay, no! This hoodie is staying on and that's that."

Jay's face flushed with anger. He poked his head back around to make sure Nya hadn't moved anywhere near them.

" _C'mon, Cole, just take it off!_ "

"Why?!"

"I have an idea but you just gotta gimme your sweatshirt."

"Okay, tell me then, what's the plan?"

"Simple. I'm sick!"

"Uh… how does my hoodie fit into this?"

"You want me to walk up to her in _this_?" He asked as he motioned to his own shirt, which was covered in paint.

"Fair point. Guess I was smart to bring an extra shirt after all," Cole added with a confident smirk.

Jay stuck his tongue out and put out his hand, waiting for the hoodie. Sighing, Cole took it off and handed it to Jay. Feeling the cool air brush up against his arms, Cole shivered.

"Suck it up." He heard Jay say as he threw the hoodie on. He flapped his hands when he noticed how large the sleeves were and laughed.

Cole let out another sigh and grabbed Jay by the shoulders and directed him in the direction of Nya.

As they walked, Jay began to fake coughing, his face getting red as the coughs sounded more and more real. Cole bit his lip and tried to ignore the _very_ real pain Jay was in when he started to cough louder.

 _Great going, Jay, you sure know how to fake a little cough._

Nya looked up from her phone and pulled out ear plugs.

Cole's eyes lit up.

So she didn't even hear them when they were on the other side of the wall?

Jay sneezed into the hoodie sleeve.

Cole shot a look. Averting his eyes away from Jay, he gazed over at Nya.

"Oh, hey, Nya… what are, what are you doing here?"

"You didn't know?" She proceeded in putting her earphones away. "Jay told me I could come over to work on some Book Club ideas with him… but when I got here no one was inside."

Cole cast a glance at Jay, who was scratching at his throat, eyes watery.

"Oh… really? How long have you been waiting?"

"Almost half an hour."

Jay stopped and threw the hood on.

"Say what?"

"I got here at 8, waited till 8:15 when I realized no one was there and then left. Then I came back at 8:30 and waited for another fifteen minutes, and theeen you guys showed up." A loud, painful, cough sounded from where Jay was standing. Nya's eyes fell on Jay. "Is he okay?" She started to move towards him, coming to see him face to face. "Ooh boy, he… doesn't look very good…"

Cole stood over beside Nya.

She was right.

His eyes were red and filled with water and his cheeks were tainted pink.

"Nope…" Jay managed to get out. "I'm fine… just…" he coughed again, then turned to the door, beginning to bang on it. "Nevermind. I needa go inside!"

Nya looked to Cole. The other was searching for his ID card to get inside.

In the meantime, Nya pulled Jay's hands away from the door and brought them down to his sides. "You need to get some rest."

"But I'm not re-"

"Sh, shhhhhhh. You need rest, and that's it. I'll probably stop by tomorrow with some medicine or something."

Jay's hands burned.

"That's really sweet of you, but I think he'll be fine by tonight." Cole told her as he opened the door. "Now do as Nya said and _rest_."

The ginger frowned and walked into the room, flopping onto the bed. Cole followed suit until Nya asked:

"By the way, Cole, what's… in that bag you got in your hands?"

Cole's eyes widened and he threw the bag inside. "Uh, nothing - just some old laundry…?"

Nya shook her head but couldn't stop her lips from curling up.

"You boys are really funny. Anyways, hopefully what you said was right and Jay does get better by tonight. If not… just give me a call and I'll come over with what I've got."

"Thanks…" he started to close the door but stopped it from closing just a bit. "I'll… make sure to give you a call if it gets any worse."

* * *

 **So today the new Hands of Time songs dropped! Well... 30 second previews of em! Have you guys heard them? What do you think? I think the time they dropped the news was a great time cause I ended up fanfirling in school. What about you guys? And tell me which song is your fav at the moment! I like _The Time is Now_ and _the Temporal Whip_ is amazing!**

 **Seeing everyone question whether it's an April Fools Day joke though is kinda funny. What have you got planned for this Saturday? Any planned pranks or jokes? I'm going to see Beauty and the Beast (heard it's better than the animation one) - but I got a little something planned with a friend of mine since a whole group of us are going to see it.**

 **I was working on a oneshot for Likely Shorts called Free Hugz but because of April Fools coming up, I may see if I can get an April Fools Day oneshot out!**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	26. Days in the Sun

**Yes! A chapter today! I know the update dates changed to every other Thursday, but like I mentioned sometime when I announced the ever other Thursday thing, I will update when I get the chance!**

 **To be honest, I feel an update this week would work anyways :)**

 **By the way, you read the chapter name right! _Days in the Sun_ , from the live-action, Beauty and the Beast! I felt it fit this chapter and you'll see why later.**

* * *

Jay sat, slouched in his seat, as the teacher wrote down a couple equations on the board. It was getting hard to focus after what went down last night.

Immediately after Cole managed to get Nya to leave, guilt washed over him and he stayed, sitting on the bed with his head buried into his knees.

He just couldn't believe he actually forgot his 'date' with Nya and scheduled a paintball fight instead… and what bothered him most of all, was the fact that he lied to her. _Right in her face_. To be honest, lying was how Jay got away with most things when he was younger. However, after he told the lie, he would instantly regret it and tell the truth in return. Now, things were different… telling small lies were easy, but something like 'hey I went to play paintball instead of helping you with some Club stuff'… He couldn't bring himself to tell Nya the truth - how would she react? What would happen between the two of them?

He suddenly remembered the last time something like this had happened. It was during the time he and Cole were grabbing a smoothie. Now that he had realized that this wasn't the first time he had lied to her, it made him feel even worse.

Cole had said not to worry about how others would react, but how could he ignore that when he was constantly afraid of losing those around him?

Jay didn't want to think about the possibilities and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. He finally came to tell decision that he would wait a bit before telling Nya what actually happened.

Just then, he noticed everyone else around him turning to a page in their math textbooks. Jay fidgeted in his seat and leaned to the right to sneak a look at the page number. Opening his book to the same page, he started the work that needed to be done, but couldn't shake the guilt off him.

* * *

During lunchtime, Jay slipped into the restrooms closest to the cafeteria and locked himself in a stall, pulling out his phone.

 _u think u could meet me in the bathroom? the one by the cafeteria_ _:/_

Jay had texted Cole, leaning against the stall.

 _sure_

Seconds later Cole was in the restrooms, searching for Jay.

Jay opened the stall door slightly and poked his head out, meeting Cole's gaze. The raven-haired groaned and walked to him.

"Why did you need me to come in here?" He asked Jay.

"I don't feel like going out there." Jay stated flatly.

"Annnd why is that? You _love_ eating outside under the trees."

"You can go, but I'm not."

"If you didn't want to come out you could've just texted me. You didn't need to have me come in here."

"Well, I decided not to eat there for the next few days… or maybe the rest of the week? Then it'll be spring break and yeah…"

Cole blinked. "What? Why?"

"Cauusee…" Jay answered, holding out the _a_ and the _s._

"Is this about last night? Are you _actually_ feeling sick, or what?"

"Like you'd care if I was sick or not."

Cole stared at him with disbelief. "Of course I'd care! Why wouldn't I?"

The younger one bit his lip and closed the stall door for a brief moment, then opened it again. "You gonna go eat? Or… are you waiting for someone to _escort you out_ of the bathroom…"

"... So you're not sick?"

Jay faked a cough quietly and then looked up at Cole. "Do I look sick?"

"Is it cause you lied to Nya? For the second time? In her face?" Jay glared at Cole.

"Would you - grrr… Just stop it. You're making it worse."

"I thought we went over this already. Honesty is the best policy," Cole said with a shrug.

"Yeah well, it's hard not to think of the consequences when the only thing you can think of is losing another friend…"

Cole breathed out and tilted his head to the side, shaking it slowly. "Man, you're such a softie."

Cole opened his arms and stepped closer to Jay, pulling him into a hug.

As a result of their height differences, Jay's chin sat directly on top of Cole's shoulder while his eyes stared blankly ahead. Out of all the times Jay had hugged Cole, he had never hugged Jay back. And now that he was getting one for the first time since they met, Jay couldn't fight the urge to hug back. That's how great it was.

"I used to hate it when you hugged me," Cole began, patting Jay's backpack, "but, eh, what was there to ever complain about? You're always in a good mood, and I hate to say it, but it's no fun to see you feeling down."

Jay chuckled softly. He hiccuped and leaned his head against Cole's, causing Jay to grow tired. Just as he shut his eyes, Cole scowled.

"Don't you dare fall asleep in here," he said. Jay tilted his head the other direction and stared at Cole.

"Heh…"

Cole raised a brow and pushed Jay back so that they could see each other face to face. "You're coming outside, and you are going to eat your lunch. But if you see Nya, you tell her the truth." Jay opened his mouth to speak but Cole cut him off. "Ah-buh-bup! Let's go, I'm starving."

* * *

They sat down under the usual tree which was already turning green.

It was warm outside.

Unbelievably warm and Jay felt his neck growing itchy. As he scratched the back of his neck, he noticed, from the corner of his eyes, Cole unwrapping a sandwich and taking a large bite out of it. He gazed down at his lunch and frowned at what foods he had picked out.

All he had bought was a granola bar and a bag of chips. At that time, Jay hadn't felt like eating and only grabbed a small snack to eat; but now, he knew just how hungry he was and he regretted everything he bought.

Turning his head, he saw Cole had bought end a full on meal. Sandwich, apple, granola bar, water bottle, and a bag of pretzels.

He looked back at his "lunch" and deeply sighed.

Cole heard this and looked to Jay. The ginger gave a lopsided smile and laughed nervously.

"You think I could… Um… Have that apple?" He asked.

Cole handed it to him with no hesitation.

"Thanks."

"No prob."

Soon enough, Nya passed by.

Jay's eyes widened and he hoped Cole hadn't noticed her.

Nya caught sight of Jay and waved at him with a bright smile on her face. She wore a book bag slung over her shoulder and loose, almost faded red, t-shirt and black, tight, pants.

She was about to head over to them until Kai had called from afar and she hurried away.

Jay breathed out a breath of relief.

Cole, who had been busy on his phone, looked up and stood up from the bench, standing in front of Jay. He lifted his phone and aimed the camera for the tree, walking from side to side for the perfect lighting.

"Uh, whatcha doing?" Jay asked as Cole continued to angle himself.

"Gonna take a pic. What else?" He stuck his tongue out to the side and closed an eye. "Besides, it's too pretty not to take a picture of," Cole added before snapping a couple photos.

As he sat back down, Jay leaned closer and watched as Cole thumbed through the photos he had taken.

Jay thought back to when Cole gave him that hug. He really liked it. No one else who had ever hugged him could beat the one Cole gave him and he wanted another.

Suddenly, an idea struck him and he leaned forward in his seat.

"You know, your hoodie is actually really comfortable," Jay told him, taking a bite out of the apple.

Cole shook his head. "Mhmm, that's nice."

"Where'd ya get it?" He questioned, as he bounced in his seat, his eyes brighter than before.

"Uh, not sure? Don't remember… you could always buy a different hoodie. Doesn't have to be the same one." He shrugged.

Jay harrumphed and slouched forward. "Yeaaaaaaah, but I really like yours."

"You want it? Then take it."

"Really?!"

"Pfh, of course _not_. Like I'd ever give my stuff to you."

Jay's eyes narrowed.

"I guess since you won't tell me where you got your hoodie from… maybe I could get another hug?"

Cole laughed, turning off his phone.

"No thanks."

"Rude."

"Ain't being rude, just politely declining."

Jay pursed his lips and thought. Finally he spoke.

"You just don't wanna."

Cole eyed him suspiciously.

"Huh?"

"It's very open here, ay? People passing by from every direction. You probs just don't wanna hug it out out here." Jay told him with a smug grin.

Cole's brows drew in.

"Uh-huh… I still wouldn't give you another one even if we were in the dorm."

"I hug people all the time, everywhere! Nothing so bad about it… so, c'mon, partner!"

"Don't try to be all cowboy like or anything."

"Eh, not trying to, but I could if you wanted me to." He cleared his throat before playfully elbowing Cole in the arm. "Y'all gonna regret it soon. So c'mon n' hug the poor soul."

Cole laughed and turned around so that he wouldn't have to see Jay. "Hah, no."

"C'mon!"

"No."

"You know you wanna."

Cole spun back around and saw the other sitting there with a big smile on his face and arms outstretched.

"No."

That didn't cause Jay's arms to fall back down.

"No."

Jay still kept his arms up.

"No."

The ginger smiled wider.

"Are you ever gonna put them down?"

Jay shook his head.

Cole sighed and scooted closer, wrapping his arms around him. Jay did the same in return.

"Like you mean it," he whispered, shutting his eyes and relaxing into the embrace.

Cole hissed but couldn't say no to that.

He could see now why Jay loved hugs so much.

He felt rather calm and like all his worries had washed away, leaving him to focus only on this moment.

It felt… nice.

It… reminded him of when he was younger… and his Mom.

* * *

" _Just one last bedtime story?" The young boy asked, jumping up and down on the mattress with large eyes._

 _His mom laughed softly and cupped her hand under Cole's chin, smiling warmly. She leaned forward as Cole slowed his bouncing, and she planted a kiss on the little one's forehead._

" _One more and then it's bedtime for you, young man," she said to him and brought the chair closer to the bed. Sitting up straight, she pulled a book from the stack of books on the side table and opened it on her lap._

 _The next story she read was about a boy who befriended an alien robot. It was one of Cole's favorites, and still remained his favorite childhood story ever since his mom passed away._

 _In the end, Cole had grown even more tired and he yawned as his mother put the books away. She came back into the room and bent forward, wrapping her arms around Cole's neck, embracing him in a warm hug._

 _It was then he felt safe, secure, and loved._

* * *

His mother always gave him the best hugs in the world. Every single day, she made sure to end his day with a hug and kiss, before closing the door and turning off the light to his room.

Certain days, she would sing with his Dad in the living room, while Cole sat on the couch, clapping with excitement. Other days, she would sing to Cole, herself, before bed; and Cole would sing along softly, their hands intertwined.

However, ever since she passed away, Cole started to feel more empty and lonely. There were no more stories, no more singing, no more of the two of them laughing together, and no more feelings of comfort.

He had his Dad, yes, but he was slightly different from his mother. Even when she passed away, Cole could tell that a part of him died as well. Though, the music business still continued, he would struggle to take care of both things at once.

Cole had wished for his Mom to come back.

Oh, what he'd give to relive just one day with her again.

Looking back into the past, he felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

He squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the fabric of Jay's shirt tightly.

Jay felt this and opened his eyes.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm all good…" he let out a steady breath, but didn't let go of the fabric. Jay could feel him shaking against him, and he glanced at what he could see of Cole, which was the back of Cole's head.

"You sure?"

Cole bit his lip and blinked, causing his vision to blur from the tears in his eyes. _C'mon, Cole, you're in public. Suck it up._

But he couldn't.

He just couldn't.

He had been glad to finally talk to someone about his Mom during winter break, and since that day, Jay knew how sensitive Cole was to that topic as he tried to avoid bringing it up.

Though now, it was _all_ he could think about.

"Yo, Cole," he pulled apart and saw Cole's head bowing down, his hair covering his face. "Cole?"

The older one lifted his chin and hastily took in a deep breath.

"Woah - dude, are you okay?"

Cole put a hand to his face and picked at his eyes, wiping away the tears.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine - just, r-remembered s-something from l-long ago."

Jay's expression fell. He knew what it was, alright. "Was it your Mom?"

Cole shook his head slowly as more tears began to build up in his eyes. By the way his chest slowly rose and fell, Jay could tell the pain he was feeling was nothing more than hurt from the past.

Without saying a word, he embraced Cole tightly once again.

He suddenly realized, that losing friends wasn't what he was most worried about. He had finally faced the truth of his worries… and that was seeing his friends feeling miserable. Nothing hurt more than to see the ones you cared about and the ones who truly cared about you, with hurt in their eyes.

People lose friends all the time, but if there was ever a time where just one friend had felt down, it hurt more to just stand back and watch without doing anything.

After all, what was the point in losing friends if the ones who truly stayed by you also broke your hearts when unhappy?

And it was then he decided, tomorrow, he would tell Nya the truth. If she felt hurt, he would make sure to make it up to her, if it meant that she would cheer up afterwards.

But as of now, Jay focused on Cole and Cole only.

His eyes widened when he heard the sobbing.

Not saying a word, he sat there in silence as Cole continued to sob.

At certain times, it was better just to talk less and rather listen.

* * *

 **All ze hugz - is cute is it not? XD I live for hugs.**

 **The reason I chose _Days in the Sun_? Cole was looking back at his childhood and the happy moments when his mother was around. In the movie, this song was used to do the same thing, and, just wow, it was beautiful** **.**

 **I totally suggest you listen to the song or in fact the full album, and go watch the movie too! ^^**

 **Before I leave, quick note that there _will_ be a chapter next week!**


	27. Ice Cream, You Scream

**Hahah, so yeah - one chapter last week and another the following! I'll see if I can get another one out before April ends. So probably an update on the 27th instead of the 20th ^^**

 ***sighs* I absolutely can't wait for summer! I'm still not sure how I want this story to end yet, because I thought of ending it sometime around the end of _Jay's_ school year - but a summer chapter would also be nice!**

 **I guess, since I can't reply to guest reviews, I gotta reply to them somehow. And for the last chapter, I really wanted to reply. AgH. If you didn't leave one, you can just skip down to the start of the chapter below - but go ahead and read my replies if you want, I ain't stopping ya!**

 **Fire Oreo: Thanks for the review! Hah, naw... Well idk. I just really love close friendships - pretty much bromance if you ask me. I try to throw in some Kai and Lloyd, Zane and Jay, Kai and Cole moments when I have the time too. But I really don't mind if anyone starts shipping anything, cause ya know, we're all free to like what we want!**

 **Jens: I'm not sure actually XD I usually type chapters while listening to music and to be honest, it makes a huge difference. The music really gets to me and gives me more of a connection to the chapter I'm writing** ( •̀ㅁ•́;)

 **Anyways, enjoy y'all!**

* * *

It was once again, another bright, warm, and sunny day. And thankfully, Jay read that the weather would stay this way for a pretty long time. This was in fact a good thing since in a few more days, Spring Break would officially start, meaning that the Spring Fair was getting nearer.

However, for the last few days of the week before break, he wanted to take advantage of the sunny weather on campus. How did he do that?

Eating off campus.

Cole had actually planned a trip to some town nearby where the Spring Fair was being held for the break. The other thing was, Cole would be there for a couple of days. In fact, it was a great idea; leaving the campus during break so he wouldn't be stuck in the same place for the break. And of course, Jay, didn't want to be stuck on campus without anyone to keep him company in his dorm.

So, Jay had begged to come along.

"Do you have to listen to music everywhere we go?" Jay asked him when he noticed the earphones in Cole's ears.

The other cocked his head and reached for an earphone, pulling it out. "Does it bother you?"

"No not really."

"Then why you asking?" Cole put it back in and looked away. Jay furrowed his brows and glared at Cole from the corner of his eyes. Cole smirked and said, without turning his head to look to Jay, "It just helps set the mood for me."

Jay tried to understand what he was saying but still couldn't quite get it. He heard Cole laugh from beside him and glanced to his right to see him holding one of the earphones out.

The younger took it and held it close to his ear.

As if some sort of ray of sunshine had fell upon him, his eyes lit up and he finally understood what Cole meant.

The music was actually very satisfying to listen to. Just listening to even a snippet of it made the day feel like it had gotten a whole lot better. The catchy music was suddenly all he could listen to and he started bopping his head from side to side.

Suddenly, the music faded and Jay opened his eyes too late for him to see the side of a building right in front of him. He yelped when he smacked the side of his face against the wall. Falling backwards, Jay put a hand to his temple and groaned. The one cheek that had touched the wall began to feel a little sore.

"Oouuuch…" He mumbled and rubbed the cheek.

Cole leaned against the other side of the wall and had a hand against his thigh, bursting with laughter.

"Should've watched where you were walking, _Zaptrap_ \- you're lucky no one else saw you."

"Yeah, yeah," he stood up and snatched the phone and earphones from Cole, smirking as he ran through the music library.

"Hey! Give that back!" Cole stood in front of Jay, a hand out.

"Nah, besides you got some great music - you won't mind if I listen to a few of em on the way to lunch anyways."

Cole shot him a glare. "I _do_ mind, actually."

When Jay looked up from the phone, he caught sight of a group of students leaving a building. As they left, a smaller group of three girls had stopped by the door before following the others to grab lunch.

Two of the girls looked to be Skylor and… Some other person he had never met. But the last one was… _Nya_. However, as Skylor and the other girl left, Nya went back inside.

 _Guess you gotta tell her now_ , he said to himself. He handed the phone back to Cole.

"Hold up," Jay started, already on the other side of Cole. "Before we leave to grab some food, I have to do something."

Looking into Jay's eyes, Cole knew exactly what it was Jay wanted to do. He gave him a firm nod and waited by a pole until Jay came back.

* * *

Nya stood up and pushed in her chair, walking towards the door with books held tightly against her chest. She was the very last student out and had missed the first five minutes of lunch like she always did. It happened whenever Nya got too absorbed into her book.

She would be sitting there, in her seat, listening like everyone else around her was doing. However, about halfway in the lecture or short speech, she would find her hands making their way to her book that sat in the corner of her table, and flipping the pages open.

Thankfully, the teacher was kind enough to let Nya stay behind and catch up with a few of the things she had missed. The rest of the work she would have to figure out by herself.

Nya reached for the door and pushed it open, but jumped back in shock.

She pressed her books closer to her chest and stood, immobile.

"Probably wasn't a good idea to stand by the door?" Jay ran a hand through his hair, chuckling nervously.

Nya let out a breath of relief and brushed past Jay. She glanced back over her shoulder and motioned for him to follow. Jay leaned forward in his toes and shuffled up beside her as they walked towards the cafeteria.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you going to eat someplace with Cole?"

The corner of Jay's mouth came up and he nodded. "Yeah, actually, he's just hanging out somewhere over there. I needed to do something real fast."

"And… what's that?" She asked him.

They neared the cafeteria but took a sudden turn. Jay continued to follow as Nya headed towards the grassy areas. She stopped by a rather large square structure, which was filled with dirt and fallen leaves. The square that enclosed the dirt was made entire out of rough, slightly cracked, stone. Nya sat down and set her books and bags beside her.

Jay struggled to find the right words and looked to the tree in the middle of the dirt as if he had gotten distracted.

"The tree is really pretty, isn't it?" He heard Nya say beside him.

Her eyes gazed up at the small flowers blossoming on the branches.

"Yeah, it really is…" his shoulders relaxed as he stared, mesmerized at the tree.

His body flinched when he felt Nya's hand on his shoulder.

"So, what was it you wanted to tell me? I really gotta eat, and I'm sure you do to. Besides, you're probably starving Cole."

Jay laughed.

"Oh! Right! Well, um… remember, a couple days ago, when I was sick?" Nya raised her head slightly, as if she had forgotten, but then nodded slowly. "I was never really sick… I faked it…" He rubbed the back of his neck while keeping his eyes on Nya.

The girl's eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth to speak but found herself at a loss of words. She raised a hand, then lowered it, her eyes darting from side to side.

"H-Hold on, you weren't actually sick? Jay… I… you had me worried. Why did you do that? You could've just walked up to me without faking it…"

"I thought you would've gotten upset since I never showed up for the Book Club thing, sooooo I hurt my throat really badly just to get through."

"I _was_ upset, Jay."

"W-What?"

"Firstly, I waited there for such a long time, words can't express how angry I was. If something came up, you should've told me, instead of making me wait there like some idiot!" She took Jay's hands into hers and pulled them up. "Secondly, I _was_ worried for you, Jay. You sounded like you were in serious pain when you were faking that… very real sounding cough. But you shouldn't lie to me. In fact, you shouldn't lie to anyone. Just tell them the truth, kay? There's nothing to be afraid of, believe me."

Jay smiled.

 _Yeah, I believe you… I've heard it too many times to count._ He thought with a chuckle.

"Sorry, Nya."

Nya waved a hand. "Now go grab something to eat! I bet Cole's starting to grow impatient."

"Huh - what do you -" she pointed a finger behind him and Jay spun around to see Cole heading their way with a death glare. Jay let out a nervous laugh, swallowed, and looked back to Nya. "I better - yeah, I'm just gonna - see ya!"

As he walked to meet up with the empty stomach Cole, Jay heard a "Wait!" from behind him.

He sound around once again and saw that Nya had gotten closer to him.

"Why were you wearing Cole's hoodie that night? Did you guys go somewhere…?"

 _Oh - ugh._ Jay bit his lip. "Aaaactuaaally… we went paintballing. Aaannnddd my shirt was dirty, so I had to cover it up using the hoodie."

He shut his eyes and clenched his fists by his sides for two reasons.

One, was that he heard Cole finally stop walking… but that was because he had finally reached his roommate.

Two, being Nya's reaction to the whole paintball over club ideas.

Opening an eye, he saw Cole standing beside Nya.

"Paintball? You played paintball?"

"IIIII…" He looked to Cole for help, but Cole just stood there in response, trying to hold back a laugh. "IIII…" Jay said again, this time through clenched teeth. Finally he breathed out and yanked Cole towards him. "Yeah! I played paintball instead of the club thing - so yeah, we already said bye anyways, so uh, bye!" He turned around and pushed Cole from the back, causing him to speed up his walking pace and nearly trip.

Once they were as far away as possible, Jay slapped a hand to his face and started to groan, which turned into a maniacal sounding laugh, then into fake sobbing.

Cole plucked the hand from Jay's face and frowned at him.

"You told her the truth, and nothing bad happened, right?"

Jay nodded while his eyes drifted off into the space beside Cole. "But I chose _paintball_ over _helping_ Nya with club ideas! Gah, that sounds so stupid and wrong!" He threw his face at Cole's chest and pulled at the shirt as he continued to fake cry.

Cole rolled his eyes and sighed, attempting to push Jay off.

"No… big… deal - it's all good now, so let's just-" at last Jay was off, "grab some lunch, instead of standing here, chit chatting, wasting our time."

* * *

After lunch, there was still plenty of time to spare, so the two of them stopped by an ice cream store not too far away.

Jay had bought two scoops of ice cream on a waffle cone - one mint chocolate chip and the other cookies n' cream. The scoops were much larger than he imagined. It almost looked as if the top scoop was about to fall off.

Cole, on the other hand, had ordered a single scoop on a regular cone. His only flavor being rocky road.

"AgH - gOh!" Jay complained from beside him.

Cole froze and glanced to the side.

It was quite the image.

Jay was glaring furiously at his ice cream, while streaks of mint green and dirty white colored ice cream rolled down the cone and over his fingers. Jay harrumphed and tilted his head towards his hand to lick the ice cream off.

Unfortunately, none of them had been smart enough to grab napkins, so Jay was left, sticky fingered.

As Jay tried to prevent more ice cream from dripping, Cole remembered something.

"By the way, I forgot to thank you for that yesterday…"

"Thank me for what?" Jay asked, clearly a sign he was listening, other than just trying to clean up the mess over his fingers.

"That… well, that hug."

He gasped. " _You liked it didn't you_!?"

"N-No, it was just comforting!" Jay took a few licks on his ice cream, grinning. "Okay, maybe I did… But, it hurts to think about my Mom most of the time, and turns out, I really needed that."

The grin on Jay's face grew wider. "You're welcome!" Jay sing-songed. "I would hug you again but…" he motioned to his ice cream, which had started to slowly drip again.

Cole chuckled softly and bit a marshmallow out of the rocky road.

Jay winced.

"How the _heck_ do you do that?"

Flashing Jay a smug grin, Cole took another bite. "Ain't that cold."

* * *

 **I actually saw a tumblr post like that - where Cole bites into a popsicle and Jay's just kinda there like: how the f did you do that? XD (I try to avoid swearing so :3 just an fyi about the previous sentence)**


	28. Spring Has Sprung

**Welp, got a chapter out today because I decided having one today and next week would work out alright. My goal is to finish this story around the summer, because I didn't want to keep it going on for over a year or longer. I thought it'd be too long to carry - so since I started this last year during the summer, that's when I decide to finish it this year :)**

 **Also thank you for all the reviews! I'm glad you're all enjoying this as much as I am! I love writing them and I actually do enjoy rereading it myself too. XD And no, this is not the first day of spring or... yea...it's just the chapter name**

 **Anyways, enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

Jay lifted a thick jacket and eyed it carefully before spinning around to ask Cole a question. "Hey, do you think I should bring this along? The weather forecast said this whole week would be warm and sunny, so I'm not sure what to bring and what not to bring…"

Cole finished packing his bag and went to plug in a digital camera he had taken from home with him. Glancing over his shoulder at the coat, Cole shrugged. "I dunno and I don't care."

Tossing the coat to the bed, Jay folded his arms across his chest and walked towards his backpack. He was halfway through packing his things, which was a surprise because usually he'd always have a hard time deciding what to bring. He was always afraid he might've needed something that he decided to leave at home, so he started packing almost _everything_ he could get his hands on.

When he was finally done packing, he kicked his backpack to the wall beside his bed and dusted his hands together.

"Done!"

"Mmm, yeah, that's nice." Cole averted his eyes to Jay's bag. "Uh, what exactly did you bring?"

"Clothes, phone, phone charger, earphones, a few snacks that I've kept stored in my desk drawer, a pen, water bottle, wallet duh, and a few other things that you don't gotta know about," he told him with a quirky grin.

Cole sighed and stuffed a book in his bag. "Okaaay, yeah that's… good. So tomorrow, we meet the others at the Fair and then from there it's off to Monty."

"Er, what's Monty… again?"

"Monty. It's the name of the town near where the Spring Fair is."

"Ohhhhh. Okay, I gotchu."

* * *

At last, it was the day of the Spring Fair.

Kids were pulling their parents around.

Parents were pulling them around.

Dogs were pulling them around too. And, vise versa.

One particular teenager, was holding a stick of cotton candy in his hand. The cotton candy was blue, to match his eyes and his favorite color. Next to him stood a teen with carelessly done hair, which was brown and sticking up in all sorts of angles. He was chewing down on a candy bar, the chocolate all gooey and creating a delicious taste in his mouth.

A few feet behind them stood two other teens. One in black and one in white. The last, was sitting down on a bench miles in front of them. He had gone ahead. Obviously.

"Hey, Kai, how's the fair so far?" Jay asked, hugging the plush chicken under his left arm. The chicken was something he had won at the _Ring Toss_ game. He ripped a chunk of cotton candy from the fair snack.

Kai shrugged, "Eh, it's fine..."

"Fine?! It's awesome if you ask me!"

"Well look at what you got! All I got was a candy bar! What kinda game gives out candy bars as prizes?! Zane won a hat, Lloyd won a stuffed animal penguin, and Cole won a... A... Forget it! You all got _something_!" Kai complained, throwing his wrapper in the trash.

The raven-haired stopped Kai dead in his tracks. "Hey. Hey, hey, hey, I won a _unicorn_. Now that's... special," he stuck his tongue out and stuffed the unicorn in Kai's face.

Kai pushed it away and scrunched his nose, "Yeah well, we're playing something and I'm winning!" He ran over to a _Skee Ball_ station and took the ball from the basket. Before he started, he looked around at the prizes. There were toy snakes, elephants, shirts, beach towels and more. Kai handed the worker a ticket and aimed the ball for the 100 hole.

He didn't want to lose.

No. He wasn't going to lose.

 _Not going to lose._

 _Just swing your arm._

 _And let. Go. Of the ball._

Taking in a deep breath, he swung his arm and let go of the ball, eyes wide as he watched for which hole it would jump in. Behind him, he could hear Jay screaming.

Jay elbowed Cole and let out a small chuckle. "I betcha he'll get it in the 10 point hole." Cole laughed along with him.

Kai clenched his knuckles till they turned white. Looking back at the man, he raised a brow. "Well, what'd I get?"

"Uh, a 10 point hole," he told Kai flatly.

"Lemme try again," he said and handed another ticket. Kai picked up the ball and aimed again. "C'mon, Kai, you can do this..." He told himself and swung the ball forward.

" _Again_ with the ten points!" Kai growled and handed the guy another ticket. "One more time. Third time's a charm!"

He gave the ball another good and steady swing and eyed it carefully. It did a dance in the air and -

Landed in the 1 point hole.

Kai turned to the man slowly. "Could I just get a prize?" He said hoarsely.

"Sure dude..." He reached behind him and pulled out a whistle.

Kai's eyes lit up. "Ha! Ha ha ha! I got a whistle!" He cried and jumped around, circling the three of them.

Cole raised a brow. "Kai, it's -" Jay clamped a hand over Cole's mouth.

"Let him have it... Let him have this moment, Cole."

The hand slowly slid away and Cole looked down at his unicorn and turned its head toward Jay. "Suurree," he said in a higher pitched voice.

"Guys, why are you still here?! I've been waiting forever at the bench!" Lloyd yelled, running through the crowd of people. He held a lollipop in his hand and stuffed it in his mouth when he caught up to them.

"Well, Mr. Cranky here wanted a prize so badly, he dragged us to another event," Cole explained and rolled his eyes.

"You could've just asked for my penguin." Kai looked up. His jaw dropped when Lloyd had said that. Laughing, Lloyd hugged the penguin close to him, "Just kidding!" Kai's smile fell into a frown. "Come on guys, let's get to the other rides!" Lloyd told them and grabbed Kai's wrist, pulling him forward. The rest of the gang followed behind, Jay picking up the whistle Kai dropped.

About an hour later, they were finally next to ride the bumper cars.

The gate opened and Jay ran in first, hopping into a blue car. The others walked in, careful not to bump into any of the bumper cars and took their seats.

Kai took a red car with flames on the sides.

Lloyd took a grassy green car.

Zane couldn't find a white one, but he did find a pink car and didn't mind riding it.

And Cole found a black car with orange stripes, decorating it on the sides.

"Hahah! It is _so_ on!" Kai declared, the front of his car facing the front of Jay's. They're brows drew in as they glared at each other, feeling confident in winning this round. The man by the gates put his arm up and started to go over a few words. Immediately afterwards, he let his arm drop back down and he blew a whistle.

The cars started moving at a somewhat average speed.

Jay and Kai rammed into each other in the beginning, ignoring that they were currently the center of attention of the nearby spectators.

Lloyd chased Cole around the edge of the arena, while Zane was driving leisurely around the area.

"C'mon, Zane! Help me get Kai!" Jay was saying, his voice growing louder as he came closer. The red car had driven away, bumping into other people's cars but getting as far away from Jay as possible.

"I would love to help but it looks like Lloyd has switched targets," Zane told him, pressing his foot against the pedal to get away from Lloyd, who was coming after him.

"Don't die!" Jay yelled to Zane.

The sound of a car coming up slowly beside him caused Jay to turn around. "You look beat."

"And it was only bumper cars for like five minutes!" Cole complained, dropping his head down to the front of the car. Jay patted his head. Lucky for them, they were nowhere near the center of the arena, or else people would've started running into them. Ooorrr they would've been asked to move.

Cole made a low growl. "You either stop patting my head or I will rip you to shreds when this is all over."

Jay's hand stopped and he slowly moved it away.

"Wanna help me chase Kai?"

Cole lifted his forearm, showing Jay a single thumb in the air.

Beaming, Jay readied his foot over the pedal and searched the arena for Kai.

"Ooh! C'mon, I see him! Let's go!" And just like that, Jay took off.

Cole lifted his head and blinked. "Ugh, hold on a sec…"

* * *

After the bumper cars, the entire group split into pairs… or a threesome.

Zane left with Kai, while Lloyd, Jay, and Cole went as a trio.

"Let's play some more games!" Jay and Lloyd said at the same time. "Jinx! - Jinx again!"

Cole's head fell backwards. "I got stuck with the two grown teenagers who act like little kids." He groaned, at the same time, running a hand over the unicorn's head.

"Says the guy who _loves_ his toy unicorn," Lloyd teased.

Cole gasped and hugged the unicorn closer to his chest. "You take that back! Sparkle doesn't appreciate being called the _t_ word."

Lloyd blinked in confusion.

Jay snorted. "Sparkle? Who's - oh… my… did you really name it? Oh my gosh, this is _priceless_!" He burst into laughter and threw a hand onto Lloyd's shoulder, his other arm over his torso. "He named the - the uni - unicorn!" Lloyd had to admit it was pretty funny, but he couldn't find the guts to laugh along with Jay. He looked to Cole, who stood there with an unamused face, holding the unicorn tighter. His face was almost as red as Kai's hoodie from embarrassment. Jay wiped a tear from his eye. "Wha - what's he gonna do, ay? _Sparkle_ a magical rainbow? Ay, that's actually not bad."

Lloyd brushed Jay's hand off. "Hey, c'mon, Jay. So he wants to name a unicorn. No big deal." He turned to Cole, who's face was already completely red. Lloyd's lips formed a thin line. He quickly punched Jay to shut his laughing up. The ginger instantly stopped. He straightened his back and cleared his throat, smiling shyly.

"Uh, heh… sorry. Um… let's go find a game to play!"

Jay watched as Lloyd went ahead to search for some fun games. When Lloyd was out of sight, Jay leaned towards Cole and smirked.

"What?"

Jay tapped the unicorn on the head.

"Cute."

* * *

"So, Zane, whaddya wanna do first?"

Zane hadn't spoke a single word since they split up and Kai thought Zane didn't want to be hanging around him. Instead of trying to spark a conversation with Kai, Zane was oohing and aweing at the different attractions.

"Yo. Zane." Kai waved a hand in front of Zane's face and snapped his fingers twice.

The other shook his head and looked to Kai. "Oh, yes, well what do _you_ want to do?"

"Hmm, me? I…" he looked around to see what else was going on at the fair. A certain booth caught his eye and his eyes lit up. "Let's go to that one!"

Zane's eyes followed in the direction Kai was pointing in. "But that is not a game…"

"Yeah, but c'mon! We can still get cool stuff!" He grabbed Zane's wrist and dragged him there.

Thankfully, there was no line. Kai looked over the sign sitting by the artist under the umbrella. Handing her the money, Kai took a seat on the chair opposite from the artist.

"How do you want me to sit?" He asked the lady.

"Any way you like," she told him.

While she was setting up the equipment, Kai thought about how he wanted to look like on the drawing. "Oh, could you draw me with a flame in one hand - like I'm holding fire? Oh! And add the whistle too! But don't forget to make me look cool."

The lady laughed. " _How_ cool?"

"Mmm… really cool, but not _too_ cool… sooooo like 20% cooler."

The lady giggled and rested an elbow on the easel. "Sure thing."

Zane shook his head in amusement and walked behind the lady. "Do you mind if I watch?"

"No! Not at all! Are you going next?"

At first, Zane hesitated, but when he looked up, he saw Kai nodding with both his thumbs up. So Zane nodded too.

* * *

After a few more rounds around the fair, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd waited for Kai and Zane by the entrance to the fair. If they had waited _in_ the parking lot… Now that was a different story. Obviously for festivities like this, the parking lots were _huge_ with cars _everywhere_. Kai and Zane were bound to get lost, or take forever to catch up to them. At least it wasn't just Kai who needed to meet them. If it was just him, he would definitely get lost; luckily Zane was there beside him.

Cole was leaning against the gate with Sparkle between his arms. Lloyd was nibbling on a couple of cookies he had bought, and Jay was running around the entrance… For some unknown reason.

"So we got like five more days till the end of Spring Break, what are you gonna do next?" Lloyd ask, taking the final bite of his cookie.

"Welp, Jay and I are going to Monty. It's this town not far from here."

Lloyd's expression saddened. "Are you guys leaving straight from here?"

"Yeah…"

"How long are you guys gonna be away?"

The other shrugged, trying to recall how long he planned to stay there in the first place. "Eh… couple of days… shouldn't be too long. Then maybe when we get back…" His voice drifted and he looked at Lloyd from the corner of his eyes, flashing him a smile.

The blonde beamed and began jumping up and down. " _Yes_! I'll see if I can get some more video games from the store!"

Cole lightly punched Lloyd on the arm and lifted a finger to his lips, a signal for Lloyd to hush up.

"Oh, right right right!"

Cole rolled his eyes with a soft chuckle. No one knew about the game nights he and Lloyd spent together. Once in awhile, Cole would shuffle on quietly to Lloyd's room when his roommate wasn't there and they'd play a variety of games together. From board games, to even games like charades. Funny thing was, Jay was so easily fooled by Cole's excuses that there was more time for fun and games.

"Hey, guys!" Cole and Lloyd both turned their heads to see Kai running towards them, Zane walking behind. "Check it out!" He lifted the paper beside his head as a comparison. "Ey, eyyyy? Pretty cool right? And I'm holding _fire_!"

"Woah! Did you guys get caricatures?" Jay ran up from behind Kai and snatched the drawing out of Kai's hand, thankful it was laminated. "Woah! _Awesooomme!"_

The caricature of Kai was dressed from head to toe in a full red ninja suit, the flame in his hands surrounded by a nice glow. Though, instead of a ninja mask, he wore a darker red headband.

"Dude, why a ninja?"

"I wanted to look stealthy," He replied with a smirk.

Cole looked over Jay's shoulder at the drawing. "Pfft… red's not stealthy. Is it?"

Jay snorted again. "Silly question! Of course it is… right?"

"Well, I saw a bunch of TV shows where the main characters are like this team, and each member is a different color. And I like red, so why not a red ninja suit?" He took the paper back and ran a hand over it. "This is _my_ prize from the fair and no one else can touch it. You guys should look at Zane's."

And so they did. Cole and Lloyd both looked over Jay's shoulder at the drawing. It wasn't really as interesting as Kai's. He was holding a plate of appetizers with a pink apron over his body. Jay tried to hold in his laughter.

"Y-Yeah, very nice, Zane," he managed to say, handing it back to Zane quickly before his vision was completely blurred.

"Thank you," Zane said to him.

"I guess it's time to call it a day? Ay?" Cole said finally, turning towards the exit.

Zane nodded and followed Cole out of the fair. Jay turned to Kai.

"Bummer… I wanted a caricature…"

"Next time, Jay. Next time," he told him with a pat on the shoulder.

* * *

 **In case anyone was curious, I actually took the name Monty from Lloyd's name. Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon XD and it sounds nice too.**

 **Fun Fact of the Day: I actually almost typed _caticature_ instead of caricature! Ah, Mabel...**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**


	29. It's Called a Horizon, Idiot

**I know Friday isn't my normal update day and honest, this was meant to get out on Thursday - but turned out I was busier than expected that day so here I am with a chapter on Friday! I'm sure y'all don't mind! I realize I've started throwing out chapters every Thursday instead of my every other Thursday schedule, so I've took into consideration a chapter every Thursday but sometimes that just won't happen - so for now, I'll just be updating every Thursday whenever I can or whenever I feel the chapter is best.**

* * *

"I can't believe you went to buy nachos!"

The ginger picked up a chip and scooped some more melted cheese onto it before popping it into his mouth. He held the paper boat plate in front of Cole, offering him some.

Sighing, he reached for a chip, ignoring the other side of him telling him to quit it on the unhealthy snacks.

"We literally just had lunch seven minutes ago and you wanted _nachos_? There's a place not far off campus where you could buy nachos. You didn't have to get some all the way out here!" Without realizing he took another one, Jay tried to hold in his laughter. "Besides, don't you think travelling further from home suggests… uh, I dunno, buying something that you _couldn't_ get anywhere else in the world?"

"Such as?"

Cole facepalmed and gritted his teeth together.

"Whatever." Cole halted to a stop where the ground had turned into wooden planks, stretching all the way as far as the eye could see. He turned his head to see the water flowing up against the shore. Casting Jay a glance from the corner of his eye, he debated whether he should continue walking straight. He had a sinking feeling that something was going to happen the moment they stepped onto the trail. He noticed there was apparently a staircase further up ahead, since many of the people who were ahead of them had walked down onto the sand. More fear struck him.

Finally making his decision, he spun around and scanned the town, hoping for a shop to quickly catch his eye.

"Uh, let's go there!"

Jay's eyes followed in the direction Cole was pointing in and his eyes widened.

"You just said, we shouldn't be checking out stuff that we can find everywhere else in the world if we travel far from home." His gaze shifted from the bookstore to Cole multiple times.

Cole's lips formed a thin line.

"Why don't we just walk over there?"

Jay pointed in the direction of the water.

"Er, how about we not?"

"I'll throw my nachos away."

He looked to his left and saw Jay walking towards the nearest garbage can.

"I didn't say throw it away. And I didn't say we were walking down there."

"Who ever said you were in charge?" After throwing away the few remaining chips, Jay went back to stand beside Cole. "Let's walk!"

Keeping his mouth shut, Cole followed Jay but had the other walk on the side furthest from the water to block Jay's view from seeing the staircase - which was technically Cole's right.

Already almost half a mile away from where they started, Jay, who had been too busy on his phone, ran to the other side and looked over the rails. Cole silently screamed at himself. Jay stretched his arms out, holding the phone between his fingers. Standing beside him, Cole rested his arms on the rail and gazed at the scenery through the same screen Jay was looking through.

He snapped a couple of photos and brought his hands back over the rail, stuffing his phone in his pocket.

"I wanna go down there." Jay finally said.

"What? No."

"What? Yes." He gave Cole a smile.

"N - o. No."

"Y - e - s. Yes."

"Ya don't like the water or somethin'?"

His stomach dropped as he watched Jay run down the steps and shuffle around on the sand in his sandals. Chin in his palm, Cole huffed, letting his gaze fall to the sand below him.

"Fine! Stay up there! You're just going to have to wait for me." Jay kicked off his sandals and tossed them by the side of the stairs, running towards the water. Cole stared with his mouth halfway open. The urge to go down there was strong but he was afraid Jay was going to play another prank on him.

Looking to his right, he saw more people advancing towards the beach.

"C'mon!" Jay pleaded to him in a whiny tone. "Just for a minute then you can go back.." Cole shook his head. "You're no fun."

Jay spun around, his back facing Cole.

Inhaling sharply, Jay started to sing loudly. "See the line where the sky meets the sea? -" He froze and brought his shoulders up beside his head when he heard Cole clear his throat loudly.

Cole cupped his hands around his mouth to project his voice. "It's called a _horizon_ , idiot."

"Would you shut up and let me finish the song?"

He continued to sing while picking up the pace towards the water. Cole chuckled and watched as the ginger strolled further into the water. Cole hesitated on whether or not he should go down there. Fingers drummed against the rail while Jay waded in the water.

Eventually he realized they probably weren't going to come back here till who knew when. And he didn't want to be a hypocrite when saying to take advantage of the things you couldn't do everywhere else… Making his decision once again, he slowly came down the stairs. Jay, on the other hand, was too busy running his hand through the cool water.

Unfortunately, Cole made the mistake of sneaking up behind Jay.

He had crept up behind the other and the splash feet against the water startled Jay, causing him to hastily turn around and push whoever it was into the water.

"cOLe?!" Jay yelped, a foot splashing back in shock.

Cole stared at Jay with an unamused expression on his face, the wet hair matted against his forehead. " _Ya_ , _Cole_." He stated bluntly.

Jay threw a hand over his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter. "You scared the heck out of me!"

"Did I? Or did you see me coming and planned to push me into the water?"

At first, Jay didn't want to admit it, but he caught sight of the small smile on Cole's face and thought of changing things up a bit.

"Noooooo. Nope, you totally freaked me out. I thought I was about to be attacked by some stranger or something!"

"Oh, _really_?" Cole asked, his smile slipping into a smug grin.

"Oh, yes, really! I was all like: 'Oh no, I've only got a few seconds! What do I do? Think, Jay! _Think_!'" He folded his arms across his chest in satisfaction.

"Mkay, well I believe you."

Jay's eyes grew large. " _Really_?" he cleared his throat suddenly, "I mean, of course ya do. I knew you would - how could you _not_ believe me?"

"Now, if you don't mind helping me up…" he held an arm out, waiting for Jay to pull him up.

Jay grabbed Cole's hand and shut his eyes to gather the strength he needed to pull Cole up. However, before he could even think of what he was going to do next, he was yanked into the water, making a loud splash.

Beside him, Cole was laughing his head off as Jay's head shot up from underwater, gasping for air. He glanced from side to side, still trying to piece together what had just happened. For the first few seconds he had grabbed Cole's hand, but the next, he was pulled into the water as Cole burst into immediate laughter.

"Great! Thanks for getting me drenched too, _Dirtclod_!"

"I can't believe you didn't see this coming!"

Jay opened his mouth to speak, but soon found himself agreeing with Cole. "Holy canoly, you're right! How did I not?"

As his laughter died down, Cole brushed the wet hair to the side of his face so he could get a clear look at their surroundings. Maybe he did make the right choice of coming down to the beach after all.

"But I betcha didn't see this!" Jay's voice yelled from beside him.

Turning around too late, a wave of water hit him in the face.

Cole blew a raspberry.

* * *

After another full day of exploring the town a bit more, Cole decided it was time to head back to college for the rest of break very soon.

So on the last day, Jay planned to spend as much money as he could in the area.

It wasn't long before Jay was almost broke. Many of the things he bought were food and gifts for the others, but the main problem was, everything they sold here was really expensive. Jay had even spent almost a whole half an hour in a shop that was filled with souvenirs for tourists that came by the area, trying to reason with the women at the cashier about the prices in the store.

It was almost 6 PM when the two of them were passing by the middle of the town. Jay thumbed through his cash and pursed his lips.

"Dang, I only got fifteen bucks left…"

"Hey, fifteen dollars is enough to get you a few things." Cole told him.

"How bout we grab a crepe from that crepe store down there and then watch the performance?"

"Crepes sound good , but uh, what performance?"

Jay pointed to a sign in front of them. Cole mouthed the word 'oh' and stepped closer to read it.

It said that there would be performances held right here in the middle of the town, from 6:30 to 8 PM. There was going to be music, dancing, magic and more.

Cole pondered for a minute while Jay started off to the crepe store.

"As long as we make it back to the hotel before 9 we should be fine," Cole said to Jay.

"Perfecto."

* * *

The place was filled with people.

At this point, it was impossible to cross from one end to the other. Cole had left Jay to get the crepes while he went to find a good spot to watch the performance. At first, Jay didn't want to be left alone to handle two crepes, but the moment Jay found Cole, he realized they had made the right choice. If Cole had stayed, there would have been nowhere at all to get a good view of the show. The place was already filling up when Jay had came back.

Taking his crepe, Cole savored a bite while leaning against a nearby pole.

Jay munched down on his crepe as well.

"Too bad Sparkle isn't here, I bet he would've enjoyed this," Jay said to Cole with a sigh.

Cole glared at Jay. "First of all, Sparkle is a _she_. Secondly, I'm glad I left her back at the motel. I know she's safe that way."

Jay coughed.

"Daw, that's cute."

Cole blinked.

"You think everything is cute."

"Naw."

"Yah."

"Naw."

"Yah."

"Naw."

Jay took another bite of his crepe. "If you say 'yah' again, I'll call _you_ cute."

Cole growled.

"I'm gonna throw this away-" He muttered, just as an excuse to get away from Jay. But before he could leave, Jay tugged on his sweatshirt with force.

"Show's starting," Jay said with a grimace.

* * *

"Oh, oh! And that magic trick! That was so awesome!" Jay said loudly once they made it back to the hotel. He fell face first on the bed.

After closing the door, Cole made his way to his bed and sat beside Sparkle, taking off his sweatshirt. "Shhhh! Not so loud, jeez, Jay."

"'Shhhh! Not so loud, jeez, Jay!'" Jay mimicked, rolling onto his back. "It's all cool, dude, almost the entire town was at the show! I'm sure everyone is still awake." He yanked his PJs from his backpack and locked himself in the bathroom just before Cole could walk in. "Su-cker!"

Thankfully, Jay didn't spend too long in the bathroom. After about fifteen minutes, the door clicked open and Jay walked out, tossing a damp towel at Cole.

"Ew, what - did you take a shower?"

"Eh, no? I just stood in the tub with the water running for a bit."

Cole threw the towel at Jay. "Well, don't throw it at me!" Jay yelped and ducked below the side of the bed as the towel soared towards him.

He poked his head up and peered over the mattress. "Good thing it wasn't a book, hah, amiright?" Cole reached for his backpack with a mischievous look on his face.

"Oh, you want a book? I gotta book. I have three actually."

Jay's eyes lit up and he went back down. "Don't you dare! I can call room service!"

Cole rolled his eyes. Setting the book down on the table, he took out his clothes from the bag and walked into the bathroom. Before closing the door, he poked his head back out and looked to Jay.

"Go to sleep, Jay."

"Never."

Cole shot Jay an unamused face.

"Okay, okay! Fine…" He wriggled under the blankets and turned off the lamp by his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The minute Cole stepped out of the bathroom, the light on Jay's side of the room was back on and Jay was sitting cross legged on the bed, playing games in his phone.

" _Lights off, Jay_!"

"O _kay_ , chill!"

And so his lights turned off once again and Jay was huddled under the blankets. When Cole turned off his light, he tilted his head to Jay's side and saw a soft blue glow illuminating from under the blanket.

Softly grumbling to himself, Cole rolled to his side.

" _Goodnight, Jay_!"

The light instantly faded and Jay shifted under the blanket, faceplanting into the pillow.

"UgHhHhHH!"

* * *

 **Hope y'all enjoyed!**


	30. It's Only Awkward if We Make it Awkward

**May the fourth be with you all!**

 **Man, the weather here is cRAzy!**

 **Quick note before we get into this chapter: I just wanted to say I actually had this chapter ready to post but I ended up going to my great grandma's house for my grandma's birthday and the internet there was broken. Also, something went screwy when I tried to update it, so I reupload end.**

 **Anyways, here it is now! Enjoy!**

* * *

A week after spring break, the entire group started eating all together for lunch outside in the courtyards. Unfortunately, Lloyd was going to be running a little late. Jay had no idea why it took them this long to all eat together. The most it ever reached was four out of the five or six of them.

Normally, Jay would've gone to pick up a tray for his lunch. However, this time he skipped the lunch line because he had packed his own lunch.

Surprise, surprise.

Jay sat down next to Zane under the same tree. He opened his sack and pulled out a lunch - bowl meal. It was something he had bought when he and Cole were in Monty - when he wanted to spend as much cash as he could on the last day. Peeling open the lunch - bowl, he gazed his eyes over the different foods inside of it.

There were grapes, cheese and crackers, some salami, and blueberries. He frowned. _They call this a_ lunch _\- bowl?_ He thought a bit bitterly and popped a grape in his mouth.

Zane glanced over at the meal Jay had brought and raised a brow in question.

"What is that?"

"It's supposed to be a _lunch - bowl_."

"There does not look to be enough food in there to satisfy for a lunch." Zane stated bluntly.

"I know right. I got my meat, I got cheese, some healthy stuff, but this is the smallest meal I've ever had!" He threw an arm up for dramatic flair. "Heh, over exaggerating though…"

Zane laughed.

"What you got?" Jay asked suddenly and peered over to Zane's lap to see him with sushi. "Holy canoly, Zane! How'd you get that?!"

"I bought it from the store," he answered.

"Can I have one? Pleaaaaaaaaseeeee?" Jay begged, comparing the sushi to the food in his bowl. "You can have a cracker on exchange for one sushi roll! I just… really really want something other than… this…"

Zane took the plastic lid off the container and held it out for Jay.

"Really?! Thank you! Thank you! _Thank you_!" He reached for a cracker to give to Zane until Zane stopped him.

"No worries, Jay. I have more sushi anyways." Jay's jaw dropped as he saw Zane pull out another container of sushi. "I have salmon, egg, one with wasabi, and some others. Would you like another?" Nodding, Jay took one, but hesitated to take another. Zane urged him to take a third.

"Aw, dude, Zane! How in the world?" He reached for one more. "That's it. I'm coming to you for good food from now on! I didn't know why I didn't think of this sooner," he whispered to himself, continuing to eat the sushi.

After some delicious sushi, he stood up to get something from the cafeteria to eat with his lunch - bowl. He waved at Zane but slammed into someone just as he turned around. He fell onto his back on the grass with his arms wide spread. Hearing laughter coming from above him, he lifted his hurting head and turned it to the source of the laughter.

Kai stood there with one hand on his hip and the other over his forehead, laughing with a wide grin on his face.

"Aw c'mon, really?" Cole groaned as he shot Kai a glare from the corner of his eyes. He was standing beside Kai, pinching between his eyes. He loomed over Jay with a disconcerting look on his face. "You okay?" Jay nodded slowly before letting his head fall back on the grass.

"Ugh… you're like a brick wall…"

"Gee thanks." Cole blew the hair from his eyes and lifted Jay to his feet.

"What is this? Like the tenth time he's bumped into you, or what?" Kai snorted, slapping a hand on Cole's back.

Cole chuckled. "Actually, yeah, I think you're right. Or maybe it was more than that."

There was the time Jay ran into Cole at the library, hallways, their dorm building, and the shelter - which they visited every once in awhile. Then there were the times Jay was being the clumsy person he was and smacked into Cole at the cafe, over and over. Kai and Ronin watched it all go down and Jay never seemed to fall unconscious because of hitting his head a lot.

It happened so many times that Kai and Zane started keeping track of the incidents.

Mostly Kai.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Okay, hah, hah, very funny. Say, do any of you guys have something I can eat? Maybe like a snack?"

"You said you were packing lunch."

"Something I can eat with that lunch? It's barely even a full meal! I'm gonna get hungry."

Kai stepped in, putting his arm over Cole's shoulder. "Ask Zane for some stuff."

"I _did_. I had like five of them." Kai's jaw dropped just as Jay's did when he saw what Zane had brought.

"No way! You got sushi?!" Kai dashed towards Zane and bent his knees slightly so he could see Zane eye to eye.

Zane nodded in response. "Would you like one?"

"Really? Sure!" Swallowing the chewed up sushi, he eyed the rest of them, hinting to Zane that he wanted another. Zane allowed.

"Come. On. It's Zane's lunch, Kai. Why not grab your own lunch?" Cole let out a deep sigh as Kai took another.

"Because this stuff is good. Duh."

Looking to Zane for permission, the raven-haired took a sushi for his own taste and popped it in his mouth.

He nodded in agreement to Kai.

"Can't argue with that."

* * *

"So what you're saying is, Jay started singing some song at the beach?"

Cole was standing in the cafe where Kai worked, fiddling with his fingers while waiting for his drink.

As suspected, Ronin wasn't there at all. He had ditched work again to go off and do something else that Kai never knew about.

Kai set Cole's drink on the open counter.

"Apparently, yeah. I think it was from some movie? But I really have no clue."

"What else did you do?"

"Well there was this concert…" Cole's voice drifted, thinking back to the memory of his time in Monty.

"How was it?" Kai asked, leaning over the counter.

Cole shrugged. "It was actually really cool. Didn't think I was going to enjoy it much, but no regrets."

Kai grinned. "Cool, cool. By the way, how come you and Jay get to do all these cool things? You guys did karaoke, he took you to his house, same paintball team, went to Monty… you even spent most of the Spring Fair in a group with him." He pursed his lips as if he was pouting.

Before Cole could answer, he processed the question once again and found himself struggling to search for the right words to say.

Kai had a point. They did spend most of the school year hanging out together, and rarely with the others.

"I… I don't know? He's my roommate? So… I guess it's just natural to hang out with your roommate more often?" He ran a hand through his hair as he thought through this more. "I mean, they pair you up with a roommate and what next? You can't just hate em for the entirety of the year. You make friends with them and then you do all sorts of things together. Hang at the park, walk to class, eat lunch, and soon you get comfortable hanging around them the most that you start to grow more trust in them."

Kai's eyes darted back and forth as he tried to keep up with the face pace of Cole's words. Finally, he shook his head abruptly and flailed his arms in the air at Cole.

"Woah, woah, woah - Cole. Cole."

Right away, Cole stopped talking and he looked up. "Hmm, yeah?"

"I actually didn't mind if you answered or not… but um, okay?" He strolled around to the front and stood in front of Cole. "You good?"

"Er… yeah… mind if I tell you something?"

Kai sat down on one of the single seater couches.

"Sure…?"

Sitting across from Kai, Cole set his drink down on the table between them and placed his hands on his thighs.

"When I was in grade school… I had a group of friends I always hung out with." Kai nodded to show he was listening. "But, I guessed I hung with the wrong people…"

Kai sat up straighter and tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't really get along with everyone, unlike everyone else in the group. I wanted to be one of the 'cool' kids, but they did some things that I couldn't bring myself to do. So I was pretty much the part of the group holding everyone back. Something happened later on and I lost my trust in them. After that I started hanging with the 'smart' kids. Ack… well not necessarily _hang_. I sat with them at lunch but I rarely even talked to them. I never told Jay this because of… well because of reasons."

"So why are you telling me?"

"It's kinda related to that question you asked earlier."

The first day Jay came into the room, Cole panicked. He wanted to be alone, with nobody to bother him. At first, Cole didn't trust Jay one single bit. He was loud, clumsy, acted fast, and got on his nerves pretty easily. However, after seeing all the things he did to get Cole to see that he wasn't a bad person, Cole knew he wasn't like the kids in grade school.

And he gave Jay a chance.

In the end, it turned out, Jay was just like him. They both had their problems in the past that dealt with friendships breaking or friendships not even lasting in a long bond. Eventually, it led to both of them desperately doing things that came from those actions.

Jay wanted so badly to make another friend. A real friend. One that would never leave his side.

And Cole wanted to be around nobody, afraid that he would lose faith in them once again.

After a moment of silence, Cole's head perked up when he heard Kai fidget in his seat. _He probably didn't get most of what I was saying,_ Cole thought. He cleared his throat.

"You know what, I actually feel better than okay. I'm going to take a nice, long, walk outside before I head back to my room. See ya later, Kai!"

Cole stood up and waved to Kai before heading out the exit.

* * *

Cole set to reading another one of his books when he got back to the dorm. It was the third book this month and soon, he would be on his way to his fourth book.

In front of him, Jay was frustratingly dancing, or rather, attempting to dance, to a song called _Our Steady Boy_. Apparently the video had some real dance moves that you could mimick.

Cole cringed from time to time when he watched Jay mess up a move completely. Watching Jay try and dance was like watching Kai trying to impress the ladies. He let out an audible groan and pressed his face to the pages of the book. Eyes peering over the top, he squinted at Jay's moves, trying to follow along how well it matched up to the music video.

"You're not even doing it right," Cole scoffed and stood up from the bed, walking over beside Jay. He drew in a breath before averting his gaze to the screen.

Suddenly, he started to dance in perfect sync to the music video. Every step made was perfect. Jay had to admit though, it looked funny with just one person doing the dance when the video clearly had moves that included two people. Maybe that's how he looked when he was dancing. Cole's lips curved up as he saw Jay attempting the dance again. He tripped a few times, and sometimes just stood there in utter silence, disappointed that he had missed a move.

"This feels kinda awkward," Jay said suddenly, while following the hand motions.

Cole shrugged. "Hey, it's only awkward if we make it awkward."

Jay found himself laughing at that statement and noticed the corners of Cole's lips tugging up. "Awkward buddies?"

"Sure. Awkward buddies."

The seconds turned into minutes and they started to fly by fast enough that the two of them lost track of time. Jay was getting the hang of it and Cole was just enjoying himself.

Interesting enough, they hit repeat on the video as soon as is it ended. Jay wanted to nail this. And Cole just didn't mind. Besides, the strange anime dance was more fun than reading a book. And he hated to admit it.

They were having a blast until it came to the step where they had to spin around a full 180°. The two of them froze when they noticed the stranger at the door.

To Jay, it felt like the entire world had stopped spinning and all eyes were on him. He blinked a couple of times, glancing around the room, feeling his whole body getting warmer.

This was officially the second time he was caught doing something rather… well something embarrassing. And who else to do the job then the one and only -

Kai.

And he got it all on video.

The boy at the door waved his phone with a sly grin on his face.

Jay tensed more when he heard Cole curse beside him. "Kai, you give that back!"

He shook his head, laughing. "Should've closed the door before doing that little dance," he told him, moving the phone from Cole's reach.

"What are you even doing here?"

"You left your phone at the cafe." Kai put the hand holding his phone behind his back and stretched out the other one with Cole's phone in it.

"Oh, shoot?! I did?" He took it from Kai and set it down on the table close by.

"Yeaaaaaah… anyways… see ya later? I _gotta_ show this video to the others!"

And with that, Kai sprinted off as Cole shouted for Kai to come back from the doorway.

Cole turned around when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. The ginger looked hurt, but the small smile on his face gave Cole the feeling of assurance.

"I don't think Kai's going to show it to the whole _world_." Jay said to him, kind of shivering at the thought. "Besides," he started, "it's only awkward if we make it awkward." Adding a wink at the end.

* * *

 **So we got a bit more of Cole's past in this chapter, ay? And yeez credits to DetermineArtist on the -Jay and Cole dancing to Our Steady Boy- idea! I really liked it and got permission to use that idea in this chapter! ^^ it was just really amusing to read, and when you watch the actual video of the dance to the song it's even more hilarious! The song is so cute though!**

 **Ay, did ya catch that Studio C reference?**


	31. I'm Mary Poppins, Y'all!

**Unfortunately since you can't put any emojis into docs, I gotta use the * when talking about an emoji. *shrugs***

 **I also started a new lengthy story called _Play_ , but I just wanted to tell y'all it will not affect this AU in any way. I will still draw my attention to this one until it ends :) so _Play_ will have some slow updates as of now.**

* * *

Jay shut the book and lifted his head, feeling proud of himself. He didn't think he'd be able to finish the book with just one and a half months left of school, but he did and he was darn proud.

It was now one less book to keep up with. Jay tossed the book to the side of the bed and reached over the bed frame to his desk, picking up his phone.

Excitement overwhelmed him as he thought about what he accomplished.

 _guess what?!_

He texted to Cole.

 _What?_

 _i finished the book! :')_

 _*thumbs up emoji*_

Jay frowned.

 _you coming back yet?_

 _Yeah, I'm actually right outside the door._

Jay dropped his phone and bounced off the bed, rushing to the door. As soon as it opened, his roommate walked right in and Jay wrapped his arms around him. Cole dropped his bag and wiggled his arms at an attempt to free them.

" _Really_? I was only gone for two hours _and_ I see you everyday." Surprisingly, he was able to shuffle towards his desk with Jay still holding him in an embrace. He picked up a book with a smirk on his face. "Plus you know how I feel about hugs."

"It's almost the end of the school year which means you're going to be getting one every day."

"Nonononono!" Jay jumped back and lifted his arms to shield his face. "Don't. Throw."

Cole broke into laughter and put the book back on the table, crossing his arms with a shake of his head. "I won't… it's not a good thing if it hits your head too many times."

"Well, duh."

" - just makes you more dumb than you already are."

Jay hiccuped. "Gee thanks."

"No prob. Anywho, tomorrow's supposed to be sunny but I got a final project to finish…"

"Well… just work on it now! Then you're free tomorrow! When's it due?"

"Monday."

That was two days from now. Jay dragged Cole's backpack across the floor and kicked it to Cole's feet. Reaching down, Cole pulled out his folder and laptop and opened it to continue his project. When Cole started to work, Jay fell back onto his bed to and brought his phone up to his face.

Time flew fast, Jay thought to himself as he slowly leaned backwards. _Only one and a half more months…_ he opened up Instaboot and started scrolling through his feed. It wasn't a surprise that all his friends had the platform. He was following Nya, Kai, Zane, Lloyd, and Cole. Kai was tied with Nya for first place, having the most followers out of them all. Lloyd had the next most, followed by Cole and then Jay tied with Zane. Zane, however, didn't care how many followers he had. The main reason he created an account was to follow up on some of the news and his friends, of course. He actually never got an Instaboot _until_ freshman year in college. Kai and Jay had begged Zane to get one for one, another follower, and two, that follower being someone they knew.

Jay raised a brow when he noticed Kai had just posted a picture. He scrolled down to read the caption.

 _five more wks till summer *sun + ice cream emoji*_

He snickered quietly as he typed a comment to leave.

 _five more weeks till the new Defenders of the Universe u mean :)_

A minute later he got a notification that Kai replied.

 _five more weeks till I don't have to see u anymore :)_

Jay's cheeks puffed and he nodded at that reply with a satisfied look on his face. Jay had no clue how to reply to that, so he left a smiley face with a tear:

 _:')_

* * *

 **The next day**

" _Defenders of the Universe Two_ comes out at the end of the school year?" Kai and Lloyd asked Jay in unison, their eyes wide in shock.

Jay, Kai, and Lloyd were all hanging outside of Borg Hall. The plan for the day was originally going to be the entire group hanging out at the park, then at the mall. However, things changed and Zane was stuck at the shelter to take care of some animals that came in the day before. Then there was Cole, who had fallen asleep last night in the middle of working on his project.

Jay leaned back against the wall and put one leg over the other. "Ah, ah, you mean _Volume Two_ ," Jay said to them with a grin.

Kai waved a hand. "I thought it was still another month away from the last day!" Lloyd looked to Kai, as if to ask _did you think the same too?_

"We have _got_ to go see it opening day!"

"Pft, you bet we do! I'm so excited!"

"I think all three of us are," said Lloyd. "Hey, speaking of the end of the year and stuff, did any of you guys request to room with someone next year, or are you all gonna take the surprise roommate kind of thing?"

"Oh, well, um… Ronin wanted to room with me next year…" Kai mumbled softly.

Both Jay and Lloyd shot him a look. "What was that?"

"Ronin and I requested to room together next year."

Jay raised his brows, shocked by what he just heard. " _Really_?" His whole upper body fell forward and he burst into immediate laughter, slapping a hand against his thigh. Lloyd took in a deep breath and turned to Kai.

"He laughs at everything… a lot."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Wait, but why did Ronin… ya?"

"I dunno. He didn't want to get a house or rent an apartment… at least, I don't think he wants to get one right now, and he doesn't wanted to be paired up with a stranger. He added, and I quote, "especially Jay"."

Jay's head flew up at the sound of his name. "What did he say about me?"

"He said he didn't want to get stuck with a stranger, especially you." Jay's smile turned upside down. "I told him you'd probably be requesting to room with someone anyways."

"Yeah, yeah, no, you're right."

"Hah! I knew it! I can't believe you were able to convince Cole to spend another year as your roommate!"

Jay laughed along with Kai until realization hit him. "Heeeeeeey, how'd you know it was Cole?"

"I think it's kinda obvious who you were going to set up a request with." Lloyd agreed.

"How'd you do it?"

* * *

 **A few weeks ago**

Jay was lying on his bed with his face down, making a mental list of all the new movies, cons, and shows airing this summer. There were so many things he wanted to do but only two and a half months to do it all. Sure it felt like a long time, but when you're having fun, time flies fast. And he didn't want that to happen.

Last year, however, it was the most boring summer of Jay's life. He had nothing to do. He planned nothing for the summer, and his parents were the busiest they had ever been. Pretty much the entire summer he sat on the couch in front of a TV playing video games till his thumbs got sore and the rest of his fingers just gave up on him. Time went really slow and boy, did he have fun.

Lifting his head from the blankets, he noticed a paper near the edge of the desk closest to the bed. He reached for the paper and grabbed it, skimming over everything.

That's right, people were getting housing forms for next year.

He looked to Cole.

"Hey, Cole, are you planning to room with anyone next year?"

The raven - haired was leaning back on his swivel chair with his feet up on the desk and headphones over his ears. He lifted a headphone and let it settle behind his ear. "No, not at the moment."

Jay hopped onto his own chair and kicked off the bed to swivel the chair closer to Cole's side of the room. "You suuureeee?"

"You want me to room with you next year, don't you?" Cole put down his phone and set his headphones around his neck.

Jay nodded, a huge smile on his face.

"We could be the Awkward Buddy Roomies!"

"Hah, it's not great, but it's not horrible either."

Suddenly, an idea came to Jay and he nearly jumped out of his seat. "Hey! We should make up some Awkward Buddy handshake or something! Like, um, how bout… High - five, then an explosion fist bump and then maybe we thump your chest like we're a soldier or something? I'm trying to make it random… Gah, I'm not good with these things."

Cole shrugged. "It's simple. I don't mind simple. You probably could've came up with something better but…" Cole finished with another meaningless shrug.

"High - five?" Jay asked, raising a hand.

And so they went through the handshake whatchamacallit. In the end, Cole snapped his headphones back on and spun around to face his desk once again. "One year didn't kill me, so I guess a second year wouldn't either."

Jay cheered.

* * *

"Awkward… Buddy handshake?" Kai repeated, looking away in thought. "Why didn't we ever think of something like that?" He asked Lloyd. Lloyd mouthed the words _I don't know_ and shook his head cluelessly.

"Heeey! There's Cole now!" Jay shouted, pointing a finger over Kai's shoulder. Kai followed Jay's finger and his eyes fell upon Cole, who was moseying along. Kai put a hand above his eyes and squinted at him.

"Someone sure is in a happy mood," he muttered as Cole neared.

"Zane still isn't here?" Cole asked when he reached them.

Jay shook his head. "Nada."

"Nada means _nothing_ , Jay." Cole corrected him with a soft groan. He pulled out a pack of chewing gum from his pocket and offered them to the others. Kai happily accepted, Lloyd passed, and Jay slid a second one out from underneath the first Popping it into his mouth, Cole began to chew and he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Kai opened his and started to chew his as well.

"Hey, we're planning to see _Defenders of the Universe Volume Two_ opening day! Wanna come with." Lloyd asked Cole, taking out his own candy.

" _Defenders of the Universe Volume Two_? Heck, yeah! I bet the sequel is as good as the first one," he added with a small nod.

Kai guffawed, leaning against the wall using his shoulder as support. "Nothing can beat the ending of the first movie."

"Mhmm?" Cole stood up straighter. "Well we'll just see who's right once the time comes around."

"I'll just be ready for the look on your face when you realize I was right all along."

Jay stepped between them. "Heeeeeeey, can we just, wait till the movie actually comes out? Besides, I think both of them will be great!"

Lloyd nodded. "Jay's right. Let's just wait, we still got to wait another month, anyways. Also," he turned to Cole when the last of his candy finished, "I change my mind, I wanna piece of gum."

* * *

 **Hahah, I bet you could all guess Defenders of the Universe Volume Two was a parody of _Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2_! I mean, their world has gotta have their own kind of MCU right?**

 **I saw it on Saturday and I loved it _so_ much!**

 **...**

 **My heart, man... *thumps chest twice***

 **Definetly my second favorite movie ;) Didn't expect to cry even though many of the reviews I read on it beforehand mentioned they cried during the movie. I feel like this is _definitely_ one of Marvel's best sequels ever! Man, I just love the GotG series!**

 ***whispers* did y'all catch that new Steven Universe promo *screams***


	32. Sincerely, Me

**Cause all that it takes is a little, re - in - ven - tion! It's easy to change if you give it your a - tten - tion! Whoops! So many references! GAh! At least the chapter title fits this time? sometimes I feel like they don't fit the chapters XP**

* * *

Jay quickly took a seat and opened his book to avoid eye contact with anyone.

Specifically, Nya.

Why? Ever since he admitted to her about the paintball match and ran away without hearing what she had to say about it, Jay started to wonder what her thoughts might have been. However, whatever he thought always seemed "too much" - or at least that's what Cole told him. He was probably right, though, since every time Jay thought about it, he grew nervous and tried to avoid any contact with Nya for the day.

Unfortunately, for him, it looked like his days avoiding her had finally came to an end when he heard that familiar voice.

"Hey-" Nya sat down in a seat next to Jay's and waved, "finally another club meeting right?"

"Heh, yeah…" Jay agreed, the back of his neck growing hotter. "I - uh, is the club… starting?"

Nya put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Jay, the club did start - it's been awhile since the last meeting so I guess you kinda forget, yanno? When the club starts, we let everyone settle in first with some drinks and snacks. Then when everyone is ready and seated, we go from there!"

"Well… then, wouldn't waiting for everyone to be seated kinds be the same as waiting for the club to start?"

"Not exactly… we still keep our meetings the same length. Anyways, it's nice to finally chat with you face to face. I feel like you've been avoiding me for the past few weeks. I tried to say hi to you, but you didn't notice. Whatcha been up to?"

"Oh - oh, I've been… Reading! I finished a book, so yeah… How - how bout you?"

"I was planning a party for the club for the end of the year - I wouldn't have minded planning it with you, but you never answered my replies or calls, I was starting to think you had something against at me." Nya placed her hands between her thighs and looked at Jay with concern. "You're not angry or anything, are you?"

"No… I'm actually just really curious what your thoughts were on my paintball night." Jay clamped his mouth shut and slammed a hand over it. The words just came right out without him even having any control over what he wanted to say. And Jay felt like an idiot. The whole thing happened over a week ago and he was still eager to bring it up? Nya was most likely over that already.

His muscles tensed.

At first Nya blinked, as if she was unsure of what Jay was talking about. Though, soon her eyes widened in realization and she nodded to tell Jay that she understood. "That thing? You're lucky I'm nothing like my brother, he would've been annoyed at you for almost an entire week. He doesn't really let anything slide past him that easily. I'm over that - I had a bunch of mixed feelings and… I felt pretty hurt after you told me, but don't be afraid to hold back the truth."

Jay relaxed, feeling at ease.

"Let's just forget it ever happened. Maybe you can help me again some other time?"

He returned her warm smile and nodded. Just before she stood up, she looked to Jay. "You know, I guess I should officially start club meetings when they're supposed to." Lost on a response, Jay gave her two thumbs up. She grinned, amused, and met with the other members.

"Alright, guys! Grab a seat and we'll get started!"

* * *

Jay reached into the bowl with one hand and stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth, keeping his eyes on the screen. They were given one more day for a break off school, and Jay suggested driving back to his hometown. Of course, this was Cole's second time visiting his parents but they were happy to see a familiar face. First day on his long weekend, Jay set up the game console in his room.

And they started by pulling an all-nighter, playing video games.

"You know, I can totally kick you butt next round," Jay said to Cole with his mouth full. Cole cringed.

"Didn't you ever learn to _not_ talk with your mouth full?"

Jay's eyes narrowed. " _I can totally kick your a-_ "

" _Don't_ even finish that sentence." Cole growled. The ginger had consumed way too much sugar for the night, causing Jay to become extremely hyper. He offered a handful of candy to Cole but he didn't want to get too sugar - high and only took two pieces.

The minutes passed by and they turned into hours and the game was turned off. Soon, the two of them fell asleep in the middle of a fight. Jay passed out on the bed, an arm hanging over the front of the bed. Cole was fast asleep on the floor, pulling most of the blanket off the bed.

* * *

The next day after breakfast, Jay dragged Cole upstairs to play video games again before heading outside.

Jay searched the room for the controllers, which had scattered around the room last night because of the feud. He opened a drawer a saw a single shoebox sitting inside. Jay's eyes grew large and he felt his entire face redden.

"Nope! Not that one!" He said quickly and shut the drawer.

"You know you made the mistake of shouting that - it sounded like you didn't want me to see what was in there."

"I don't want anyone to look at what's in here!"

"Ehhh. Wrong answer, it's actually: Of course I want people to look at this secret stuff! Why else would I have made a scene over it?"

Jay glared at Cole, unamused. Cole smirked back at him.

"Shoooowwwww. Or I won't tell you where the controllers are."

"You know where they are?!"

"Yeah, I saw where you tossed them last night."

With a sigh, Jay took out the box and slid it towards Cole. The other brought it closer and took off the lid, excited to see what was inside. When the lid came off, all he saw was a pile of about a dozen folded up papers. He unfolded one and read the first sentence, then looked to Jay in question.

"These are just a bunch of letters."

Jay nodded and reached for the box, closing it, and slowly sliding it back to him. "Well, alright then, means I can put it back and you can show me - hey!" He fisted his hands when Cole tore the box away from him and opened up a couple letters.

"Dear Jay Walker, today I met the most awesomest guy ever! He played Starfarer in the Tv series! But I still wish I could meet the real guy. Like the guy who actually plays him in the movies -" Cole lowered the note, fighting back from laughing. He cleared his throat and continued to read. "I also saw this really pretty girl, her name is Kathy and I think I like her. Like, like her like her - but I've had many school crushes. They never ended well, maybe this one will? Anyways, I hope you're having a great day! Sincerely, Me."

"What are these?" Cole asked, fishing through the rest of the letters.

"They're… Letters."

"I _know_ they're letters. But why are they all addressed to you, and _signed_ by you?"

"Because I wrote letters to myself since grade school." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I don't want to… Talk about this anymore, can we put it away and play some video games now?"

Cole scanned over another letter. "Why did you write letters to yourself?"

"Reasons."

Cole picked up another letter and read it silently.

Dear Jay Walker, this is the very first letter of many more to come! Mom said writing a letter to yourself every once in awhile would be a good thing and I take her word for it because she's my mom! And I love her. I hope when I'm older I will look back at these letters. Also, you're doing great today. I love you.

Sincerely, Me.

P.s. Make sure not to let anyone else read these.

Welp. Jay had obviously failed there, but yet, reading these letters was kind of heartwarming.

Jay took in a deep breath. "It started as a school assignment. We had to write letters for our future selves, and after that, my mom thought maybe it would be good if I wrote something to myself often to reflect back on in the future." He reached for the letter in Cole's hand, which Cole had willingly let him take back, and stuffed it into the box before tucking it away. "I kinda stopped in high school, but I guess they were pretty useful. Sometimes I even stay up at night and read through them."

"Is that all?" Cole asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said you stopped writing them in high school. Why was that?"

"Um, it was because I met Morro."

"Why did that have anything to do with not writing letters to yourself anymore?"

"Letters helped me build confidence in myself, Cole. I always felt good after finishing another letter. Even rereading them made me feel good inside. Meeting Morro, changed that a bit for me. He was really only close as a study buddy. Most times during school he would pretend to not notice me, but during home room hours and after school, we worked together… On school stuff."

Cole mouthed a silent 'oh' and let his gaze fall to the floor.

He had to admit, writing letters to yourself was helpful in many ways. It wasn't something to joke about. He bit his lower lip with thought. "You think I could maybe write one to myself? … Right now, that is."

Jay's head perked up. "You wanna write one?"

"Sure, why not? Then maybe five years later, I can look back at myself today."

Jay pulled out a paper and pencil and set them on his desk.

* * *

"It doesn't sound like they're playing games up there, Ed," said Edna, stepping out of the kitchen. She was in the middle of drying off a large bowl when the noise from upstairs suddenly fell silent. Her eyes found Ed in the living room, reading an article. She cleared her throat at him to get his attention.

Ed turned around. "Ed…"

He stood up and walked to the bottom of the staircase. "Uh, you boys doing okay up there?" He shouted to them.

"Totally fine, Dad!" Jay yelled back in response.

Ed looked to Edna and shrugged. She huffed and set aside the bowl, then made her way up the stairs. Opening the door a tad bit wider, she poked her head in.

"You boys okay?"

Jay jumped in place, spinning around to face his mom. His eyes darted back and forth from his mother to Cole. "AH! _Mom_! Yeah, we're Co- ah, uh, cool! Heh. Can you give us some space…? _Please_?" He begged to her.

Edna answered Jay with a nod and backed out. Once she was back downstairs in the kitchen, she picked up the bowl and put it away in the cupboard. "I think Jay is doing just fine in college, dontcha think?"

"He sure looks to be!"

"And he's made a lot of nice friends as well. - oh, Jay, dear, would ya come over here for a minute?" Edna asked when she spotted Jay coming down the stairs.

"Uh, sure… I needed to get a glass of water anyways."

Edna squeezed Jay into a tight hug and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

"I'm very proud of ya."

Jay's cheeks blushed a light shade of pink.

He hugged her back, then looked from his mother to his father. "And I'm proud to have you guys as my parents."

* * *

 **Apologies for the later than usual update! I had so much going on today, my history class went on a field trip to see the Terra Cotta warriors and I totally forgot to finish this chapter! Also, last week, if you were wondering, instead of a chapter I put up a short.**

 **If you couldn't pick it up, Morro was Jay's high school pal**

 **Anyways, I put up a new poll in my bio! I'd be super happy if you vote! I know I cant, cause I can't choose! XD and vote if youre familiar with the subject, of course.**

 **Also those letters were written by a younger Jay so obviously most of them are written the way they are.**


	33. Anybody Have a Cat?

**Hah, I was singing along to _Anybody Have a Map?_ while writing this and actually almost said "anybody have a cat?" - just in case you were wondering where the title came from.**

 **Its pride month, y'all! Whoo!**

 **Some replies to reviews:**

 **RebelutionaryWrites: Don't worry, there won't be any. I'm actually trying to stay away from writing a lot of romance [scenes] in this - I just want this to be a story about Jay tackling college and yanno, meeting a ton of awesome people! And some bromances of course :3**

 **Jen's: Thanks for asking! And it was amazing! Really fun as well to miss out on the rest of the school day. Man, I wish we could do it again. And, hah, no, I don't write letters to myself. Well, I kinda do - I did when I was in elementary and middle school.**

 **Also, please read my bottom Authors Note! It's got some important news.**

* * *

As soon as Zane finished reading his poem, Jay clapped as loud as he could. He was impressed with how well his friend could write. His sentences flowed smoothly, his rhythm was perfect, and every word he read suddenly transported Jay into a world where all was calm and there was no one to bother him.

Zane flushed and thanked Jay the best he could without stuttering. He rarely shared his writing with anyone, but when he did, they were always in shock of how well Zane could write.

"I wrote it for a poetry contest. Do you like it?"

" _Like it?_ I _love_ it!" Jay took the paper from the table and glanced over it. "Dude, you should write more!"

"Do you have any feedback?"

"Well… not right now. It's too good for me to think of anything it could need fixed. I'll tell you if I come up with anything," he added with a wink. Zane's smile grew bigger.

"Thank you, Jay."

"You should read that to everyone else - and by everyone else I mean, you know, Kai, Lloyd, Cole…" His eyes wandered as he spoke. "I'm ready excited for the summer! You got any plans, Zane?"

Zane shook his head. "Not at the moment. How about you?" He folded up his paper and put it away into a notebook pocket.

The ginger shrugged. "I really don't know yet…" He pulled out his phone and turned it on to check the time. "Hey, well, it's already 2 and I promised to meet Cole in the library. You - you have something else to do, right? Like… you aren't just gonna sit here doing nothing… right?"

Zane answered with a nod. Jay beamed.

"Coolio!" He pointed finger guns at Zane before dashing off.

* * *

"So that's how to solve that problem. Anything else you need help with?" Cole asked, keeping his pencil on the paper next to his work.

Kai kicked his feet off the table slightly to lean his chair back. "Eh, I guess? I'm not good with math."

"Yeah, I can totally tell you aren't. It's almost the end of the school year and you still haven't gotten these formulas down. Are you sure Zane couldn't help?"

"He tried. It got really… _complicated_ … he kept using all these big and fancy words - I don't know what any of them mean!"

Cole huffed and dropped his head onto the table.

"Just try and solve a few more problems on your own. I feel like I had to explain it a bajillion times."

The raven-haired looked back up and saw Kai with a screen in his face. Cole's eyes grew wide before his brows furrowed inwards. "Hey! Maybe _that's_ the reason you aren't doing well. _Maybe,_ if you spent less time on your phone, you could actually get work done."

Kai lowered his phone. "I gotta check back once in awhile. It's not a good thing to leave your followers hanging, yanno?"

Cole put a hand to his face and groaned.

Sometimes - _most_ times - he regretted agreeing to help Kai with his homework. Out of their little friend group, he and Nya were always getting perfect scores. Or, close to perfect scores. Unlike Kai and Jay, who seemed to bounce from good to bad. Lloyd on the other hand was doing fairly well and didn't need any help. Zane, obviously, was scoring a perfect hundred out of a hundred on nearly everything.

Unfortunately, Nya refused to help her brother out because it turned out, she did help him out in the past - by doing his work. Kai had somehow managed to get Nya to finish through all of his homework without even realizing it until the next day.

Of course, often times Kai did attempt the work himself. He wasn't as bad as Ronin, that was for sure.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom," Cole said and stood up. On his way to the bathroom, he started to brainstorm a list of the pros and cons of tutoring Kai. Opening the door, he saw Jay standing in the middle of the bathroom staring at the mirrors while he slicked his hair back. "AH! Wh - what is this?"

Jay's arms froze in the hair and he stared at Cole with a shocked expression. "I… uh… I was… making sure my hair looked… nice." He gulped. "Y-Yeah! It was _very_ messy before and I wanted to fix it. Yanno what I mean?"

Cole raised a brow and shook his head, looking slightly disturbed. Jay's hands fell to his sides and he grinned shyly.

"What are you even doing in here? You were supposed to meet me in the _library_. Not in the bathroom _in_ the library!"

"Like I said, I was fixing my hair!" His fists clenched by his sides.

Cole didn't believe it.

"I had to use the bathroom. And _then_ I decided to fix my messy hair."

Once Cole was done in the bathroom, he met Jay outside by the men's restroom door.

The ginger stood there leaning against the wall as he played Crossy Roads. "Got hit by a car yet?" Cole snickered.

Jay pouted. "No. And I don't plan to. Not in the game and not in reality."

"Aw, too bad." Cole walked away, holding in a laugh. "And of course I meant that game wise. It wouldn't be pretty if you got hit by one in real life."

"No duh," Jay said and followed.

When they got back to where Cole was sitting before, Cole noticed Kai had tucked his phone away and tried to attempt the problems. Cole nodded, satisfied.

"We should grab some coffee afterwards," Cole suggested as he took a seat.

"You really like coffee," Kai noted.

Cole shrugged. "I just like food and drinks in general."

"I'm all for some coffee," Jay chimed in. "I mean, I'd rather have a lemonade but it's cool. Hey! Do you guys have any plans for the summer? I talked to Zane but he wasn't sure."

"Well, let's see," Kai began, dropping his pencil and resting his elbows onto the table. He lifted a fist and started to count. "We're having a movie night after school ends, right?" Jay nodded. "So there's that, aaaaannnnnddddd…" Kai held a finger backwards. "Nope that's it."

Jay frowned.

"Oh, I should probably tell you guys, Nya's planning to get a kitten over the summer!" Kai added.

Both Jay and Cole exchanged surprised glances. "She doesn't have a specific breed picked out yet, but there's this one lady who's giving almost a dozen kittens away."

Jay moved his legs under the desk. "I want a kitten! They're so cute! They've got those big eyes and soft fur! I mean, I love both cats and dogs, but no way, really?!"

Kai nodded.

"Our college allows animals, right?"

"I… Think so?" Kai slowly nodded, a bit unsure.

Cole, on the other hand, scooted back in his chair. "Hold on - you're not actually planning to get a kitten, are you?"

"It's almost the end of the school year! Why not?"

Determined to search for a pet, Jay decided to meet with Nya before tonight.

* * *

"I never knew you liked cats," Nya said, opening her laptop to a webpage on the information about the kittens. "Yep, there were a dozen kittens, but the entire world loves them, so there looks to be five left. Aw, over half have already found homes. That's so sweet, isn't it?" She cast a glance at Jay.

Jay chuckled nervously. "Heh, yeah." He cleared his throat, taking a seat next to her on the bed. "So, which one are you looking to get?"

Nya pointed at the kitten on the far right.

"It's a Ragamuffin cat. My parents loved animals, especially cats. When they left, one of the things they left behind was their pet, a cat. It was also a ragamuffin. She kind of acted like an older sibling to us. She snuggled with us when we were sad, she walked by our side when we were afraid of the dark and all the other sounds like thunder and lightning… It's funny cause usually dogs would do that. But I guess with animals, you just don't know what to expect."

She shifted the computer so that Jay could see the screen better.

"What was her name?" Jay asked.

"Winter. Her name was Winter." Nya let out a painful sigh, "She went missing about half a year later and… she never came home."

Jay lifted his feet on the bed and shuffled closer. He put a hand over hers and held it tightly.

Nya squeezed back. "But the past is the past, and I'll always remember her. I'm just glad she was always there for me."

* * *

About a week later, Jay and Nya had gone to pick up the kittens.

By the time they got in the car, Nya was hugging her kitten with tears in her eyes. The small animal meowed back at her and she pet it gently on the head with a huge smile on her face.

"I thought about a name, and I decided to name her Misty."

"Misty?" Jay echoed, starting the engine.

"She just looks like a Misty."

"Huh, yeah she kinda does."

Misty started to get comfy on Nya's lap. She put her head on top of her front two legs and relaxed. Nya ran a hand through her fur.

"Aw, she's going to take a little cat nap!"

Jay laughed. "You think you can take mine too?"

Nya looked over her shoulder.

"It doesn't look like he's tired," Nya said while Jay's kitten leapt from one end of the backseat to the other. "What kind of cat is that anyways?"

"The seller told me it was a Munchkin."

"A Munchkin?"

"Yeah, cause of it's short, stubby, legs."

Nya focused on the legs of the cat and understood what Jay meant. The legs were very short indeed. He almost looked like a cross between a Dachshund and a cat.

His fur was a mix of white and dark grey. A white stripe of fur ran down the middle of his head. His ears pointed straight up in almost perfect triangles that were slightly rounded at the corners. His large brown eyes stared back at Nya.

She waved to the little one and turned back around. "What'd you name him?"

Jay shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. "Eh, dunno. I'll probably think of something on the way back."

* * *

"Evan! I'm naming him, Evan!" Jay yelled as he burst into the room with a few papers in one hand and small cage for the cat in the other. His new pet was walking beside him.

"Who the what now?" Cole asked bewildered. He sat up in bed and his jaw dropped at the sight of Jay. "Um, what's that?" His attention landed on the cat. "Annnddd what's _that_?"

Jay set the cage down on the floor and put the paper on his desk before lifting Evan from the floor and carrying him towards Cole.

"His name is Evan!"

"Evan? Wait. I thought you said you and Nya were going to get ice cream?"

"We did! Then we went to pick up our kittens!"

Cole blinked once.

Twice.

Jay set Evan down next to Cole on the bed and ran to pick up the papers he had brought in, taking a pen with him. He held them out in front of Cole.

"I need you to sign this."

"And what is _this_?"

"It's a roommate agreement form. Since yanno, I got a pet. I can keep him in here with me as long as I have a cage and get your agreement."

"Shouldn't it have been the other way around?" Jay cocked his head. "You know, like, ask your roommate about it first before actually bringing home an animal?"

"Eh, yeah. But I knew you would sign either way. I mean, just look," he lifted Evan from the bed and held him beside his head, "who could say no to this?" The two of them stared back at Cole with big eyes, begging to stay.

Cole scoffed. "I could." He picked up the pen and signed the paper. "There," he said, holding it out in front of him, "just try to keep _Evan_ away from my stuff."

Jay snatched the paper from Cole's hand and let Evan wander a bit more on Cole's bed. Cole sighed.

"Heh."

* * *

 **So... I'm going to see my first musical ever this summer! And even better is that it'll be the original cast! I really hope to make the most of it and I can't wait! I bet you can guess which one it is :) it's one I've been dying to see... Dear Evan Hansen!**

 **However, this means that I will be staying off all social media platforms more often cause I have to keep my grades up. It's already almost the end of my school year and I got what, like 16 or 17 more school days left? Which means I got finals coming soon and bit more tests!**

 **On the bright side, I will try to keep updating this according to schedule! After all, I plan to have this story come to an end around the summertime so there ain't as many chapters left as you might think! My other story, Play, will be on hiatus - I'll also try to get out a few oneshots if I can't get in a new chapter.**

 **Anyways, thank you all for understanding and hoped you enjoyed the chapter!**


	34. How to Be a Bawse Step 1: Good Friends

**Yeah, an update Friday instead of Thursday. No harm done :)**

 **RebelutionaryWrites: AHHHCK! You are? I'd love to read them! I'd really do! It actually would be really cool if you posted them but it's your choice :) and thank you!**

 **Fire Oreo: Hah, yeah, don't worry you're not alone. I'm terrible at poems too. Heh, Cole is a sweetie :3 Eh, I guess some people just get jump-scared by friends when they're doing something 'private' in the bathroom. I know I do XD**

* * *

The moment Cole woke up, he sat up in bed and noticed a sticky note on the wall.

He plucked the note from the wall and sat back down on the bed cross-legged. "Watch… Evan for me… I am running an erand. Be back *around ten* - no, before noon."

Cole wrinkled his nose. First things first was that it looked like Jay was in a hurry to write that fairly short note because the entire thing was difficult for him to read. Secondly, Jay didn't even spell _errand_ right.

Startled, he jumped when he felt Evan brush up against him. Cole's lips formed a thin line and he pressed the sticky side of the note back on the wall. Running a hand through Evan's fur, the kitten purred and climbed onto his lap.

"So… what to do, what to do?" He asked himself while continuing to stroke his fur. "What _do_ I do?"

He lifted Evan off his lap and set him on the bed before walking over to Jay's side of the room and rummaging through his things. Cole found a teddy bear, a comb, some comic books and a bunch of crumpled up receipts. It took a while before Cole found what he was looking for.

Pulling out a single can, he then searched for a bowl. Surely Jay had to have one. He couldn't have bought just a cage for the small animal. Thankfully, Cole did find a bowl and set it down on the floor beside the bed leg. He opened the can and dumped out the food, stepping back to let Evan see.

"Food?" He pointed a hand at the bowl and looked to Evan in hopes that he would eat.

The small cat pounced towards the bowl and ate. Cole sighed with relief. Then it hit him that Evan needed to drink as well. He searched for another bowl under all of Jay's belongings but found nothing.

"Gosh, dang it, Jay. What kind of person doesn't get their pet two food bowls?" He stood up and searched the room for a container big enough for Evan to lap water out of.

He placed the container filled with water next to the food bowl.

Bending down next to Evan, he ruffled the fur on his head and smiled. Evan lifted his head and brushed against Cole's leg.

"You like being pet, don't ya?"

Evan gave a quiet purr as if to say yes. Cole collapsed onto his butt and didn't move as Evan circled him a couple of times.

"By any chance, do you know where Jay went? He must've mentioned it before he left," Evan looked up at him with big eyes. Cole nearly laughed. "Right, you're an animal… you can't answer to me." He gazed around the room until his eyes landed on the digital clock sitting on his desk. The clock read 10:50 AM and Cole let out a sigh. "Looks like we've got about an hour before Jay returns… so what should we do?"

He stood up, bringing Evan with him and walked towards his desk, turning in his phone. "Maybe we should call over Kai…" He looked to Evan. "What do you think?"

Kai came over ten minutes later with Misty. Happy that Evan had a friend to play with, the two let the kittens play around with each other on Jay's bed while they sat and talked on Cole's bed.

"Nya needed to do some last minute photography so I had to watch over Misty." Kai told Cole.

"Hah, funny, Jay said he needed to run an errand - with one _r_ \- so he asked me to watch over Evan… through sticky note."

Kai laughed. He turned his head and caught sight of the sticky note on the wall. "This is?" He asked, plucking it from the wall.

"Eyup." Cole gave a firm nod.

"By the way… uh, what kind of cat is Evan? He has really short legs." They both glanced over at the two kittens on the other side of the room.

"I think Jay said he was a Munchkin…"

"That makes sense. I think. Cause he's short. Right?"

Cole laid back and dropped his head onto the pillow. "Mhmm… so where's Ronin?"

"Ronin? Oh yeah! Ronin… he's with Nya, helping her with the photos."

"So then who's running the cafe right now?"

"I found somebody to fill in for the week. It's exhausting, especially when your partner rarely even shows up."

Cole sat up straight. "How long are you keeping the job anyways? Aren't you visiting home over the summer? It's going to be a lot of extra work to wake up early and drive back all the way down here."

Kai leaned back on his hands and thought for a minute. "Yeah, I haven't thought about that… I may drop out a week after school ends and then I'll find something else to do near my home town. Besides, I think Nya's already searching for a job."

A moment of silence fell between the two. To avoid any eye contact with Cole, Kai pulled out his phone and opened Instabook, scrolling through his feed. Cole, on the other hand, fell back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

It felt a little awkward for the two of them to just sit there doing nothing while the kittens were playfully fighting with one another.

Suddenly, Kai broke the silence. "You ever thought about if Misty and Evan would… you know, like each other and then…"

Cole's eyes widened and he thrust his legs forward and kicked Kai's legs. "Don't even say it. I don't want to think about it. No no. You can save that little thought in your head, but don't share it out loud. At least, not when I'm around… please."

Kai snorted.

"Fine then, I won't… For now…"

* * *

The minute Jay arrived back at the dorm, he threw himself at his bed.

"Evan!" Jay screamed and dove for the bed where Evan was sitting. Cole looked up from his laptop and raised a brow at him.

"He didn't give you much trouble, did he?"

Cole put the laptop aside and turned around to face Jay, resting his elbows against his knees. "Nope, no trouble from Evan at all… just uh, I think you need to buy some more things for him. He _is_ your pet… right?"

Jay nodded slowly. "Um… yeah…?"

"Well, first of all, you should at least get him two separate bowls. One for food and the other for water. Also, you should get him a couple of toys to play with. Maybe some other kinds of food too? Like, dry _and_ wet food."

"Since when were you the pet expert?" Jay asked, a sly grin on his face.

Cole rolled his eyes in response. "You know, maybe we should go shopping for some cat supplies right now," he suggested. Jay wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Why not?"

"You see, there's this word we use to describe people who don't like to move a lot, and that's called _lazy_. And that's me! And me says _no_."

"Come summertime you know I'm gonna drag you out of your house," Cole told him with a smirk. He stood up from the bed and walked over to Jay's side, lifting Evan into his arms.

Jay lifted his chin and cocked his head to Cole. "Oh really? And how ya gonna do that?"

"I'll drive over to your house and physically drag you outside. Whether it be by the shirt, leg, arm, or anything." Cole hugged Evan close to his chest. "Besides, he's your pet, you need to take care of him." Jay frowned.

"Fine, just let me sleep for like an hour or so and then we can go. I'm tired."

After Jay's hour long nap, they walked from the college campus to the mall. The weather outside had been jumping from cloudy to sunny, becoming very unpredictable. However, the days started to stay sunny and it brought Jay to the assumption that it would stay that way until summer ended.

Once inside the mall, they searched for the pet store. They stopped by a few shops on the way there. Jay bought a few items for the end of the school year to give to his friends, just like he did around Christmas time. While Jay shopped, Cole leaned against the wall by the entrance of the store, sucking on a lollipop he got from the sweet shop.

"Pet store, next?" Asked Jay when he met up with Cole outside of the shop.

Cole nodded and kicked off from the wall, walking the rest of the way beside Jay.

At the pet store, Jay searched for the big cat sign that would be hanging above his head. He spotted a hamster sign, a dog sign, and fish sign, then finally the cat sign came into view and he rushed over. "Is it weird I don't really want summer to come?"

Jay crouched down in front of the shelf and scanned the rows. "Um… kinda? I dunno. Most people do want a nice long break. Why do you say that?"

"I'm just not ready to go back home yet. It's empty there… no one else to talk to - it's just you."

Jay glanced at Cole from the corner of his eyes as he picked up another can of food. "What about your dad?"

"He's always on music business trips, remember? I rarely get to see him anymore." He extended his arms so that Jay could hand him the canned food. "Here, it felt different. After we got to know one another, it felt like family to me. I just wish it could've lasted longer."

"Welp, you had the entire year, Cole..." Jay picked up a toy from a bin, "I guess everyone kinda has mixed feelings about vacation… I mean, the good news is that we're out of school…" His voice drifted and he lowered his head. They stood at the register and Jay paid for his supplies before the left the store and headed for another one to window shop. He came across a magnet and showed it to Cole. "But, I guess I'm in between now too."

Cole half smiled at the magnet and at Jay.

"A friend is all you need to be rich in," Cole read.

"I'll buy one, if you buy one," Jay said to Cole as he held up another one of the same magnets. "Look, one's blue and the other is orange. Your favorite color."

"How'd you know that?"

"Um... I have my ways," Jay muttered.

Cole chuckled softly and put the magnet back. Jay, slightly hurt, forced a smile on his face. "So… you don-"

A puff of breath escaped him as Cole threw an arm around Jay's shoulders and pulled him close. In an instant, Jay felt better. His shoulders relaxed and he tossed the magnet behind him. Cole smiled.

"I don't need a magnet to tell me that."

Jay returned the smile and then pulled out his phone, turning on the camera. "A magnet may not matter, but a picture does," he said right before hitting the button to snap a picture.

* * *

Cole lifted Evan into his lap and stroked the small cat's back. On the other side of the room, Jay set up the two food bowls so that they were side by side, one filled with water and the other with food. He added a toy beside them and kept another one in his drawer. He heard Evan purr from behind him.

Jay spun around, staring at Evan.

"Evan isn't such a bad name for him you know," Cole said as Evan lowered his body and rested his tiny head on his front paws. "I actually really like it."

"You do?"

Cole leaned back on his palms and nodded. "Totally."

The ginger plopped down beside Cole and glanced down at Evan, who was fast asleep. Just then, like a lightning bolt had struck him, he whipped out his phone and turned it on in front of Cole.

"Check it out," he said with a gentle smile. "My new wallpaper!"

Cole raised his brows. It was the picture Jay had took of the two of them back at the mall. Jay unlocked his phone and flashed it in Cole's face continuously. "See? It's my lock screen and my home screen!" He looked to Cole with big eyes, then his eyes fell on Evan. "You know, I don't really want to leave either..." He spoke softly. "Only child problems, right? It's got its good times and its bad times..."

He dropped his forehead against Cole's shoulder. "We should hang out over the summer... That's a good idea, right?"

"Definitely."

* * *

 **Welp, down with that chapter! *clutches chest* my heart :')**


	35. Different As Can Be

**Looks like I maybe jumping between Thursday and Friday for updates. I'm so sorry I missed three weeks of updates! Here it is, the chapter that was meant to come out three weeks ago XD.**

 **Also just a bit curious, have you all seen the new LEGO Ninjago Movie info/posters that were released yesterday? Apparently Jay will have a crush on Nya in this movie... personally I'm not really excited about it because the romance sub plots in Ninjago the show have been... really messy. And I was never a big fan of the couples in the show in the first place :'). But I have a feeling it will be impossible to make this romance be as um... I don't want to offend anyone, but ya I have a feeling it will be better in the movie.**

 **Also, who's excited for the new DuckTales?! (Revamped/reboot) Take notes Cartoon Network XD**

 **I hope you're all having a great summer so far! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Ah, I can't wait till we're out of school," Jay piped, spreading his arms out on the grass with Evan curled up between his arm and upper torso.

They were at a baseball field not too far away from campus. It was a sunny day and the sky was empty of clouds. Kai had brought a football to toss around the field. At first, he suggested that Jay could play with Evan, but then he remembered that Evan was a cat. Though, Evan liked to follow Jay around wherever he went, including the outdoors.

So while Jay was relaxing and Kai doing something on his phone as he leaned against the wired fence, Lloyd and Cole tossed the football back and forth at each other.

After playing with the football for twenty minutes, both Lloyd and Cole sat down on either side of Jay, nearly out of breath.

"So Kai, whatcha been doing on your phone for the past twenty minutes, huh?" Cole teased when he noticed Kai still hadn't put it down.

"Stuff."

"Like what kind of stuff?"

Kai ignored him.

Cole harrumphed and looked away.

"Three more days until summer vacation, right?" Lloyd asked, breaking the silence between them, looking around for a nod in his direction.

"Well you know, if I were you, I'd probably just skip the last day of school… Besides, if I skip it, I could maybe get done with my shift at the cafe earlier." Kai said, his eyes never leaving the phone screen.

Cole furrowed his brows at Kai. "Did you skip the last day of school in elementary and middle school?" Kai smirked as he finally lowered his phone.

"Naahhhh… Yup I did. Since sixth grade actually."

Cole's eyes widened and his expression quickly changed as he glanced at Kai with a brow raised high. "Wow, I don't seem the slightest bit surprised actually…" He lifted a foot and propped his elbow on the knee. "I never skipped school even if it was the last day."

Kai grimaced. "You tryna be the good guy or something? Girls like the bad boys yanno?"

"Eh, I wouldn't say that, Kai. Honestly, it's just one of those silly sayings. There probably are some people out there who like the bad guys other than the good guys and vice versa, but… don't follow life after a bunch of sayings." Cole told him with a nod off his head. "Maybe that's what you get after being on social media 24/7."

Kai wrinkled his nose. "You're just jealous." Cole stood up, finally, and stalked forward to Kai.

Lloyd took in the scene and shook his head knowing this wouldn't end well. "Guys…" he said, but no one other than Jay heard him.

Cole rolled his eyes. "What's there to be jealous of? I wouldn't want to be the guy who sits on his phone all day."

Kai snarled. "Just so you know, I'm not on it _24/7_ \- you just said that cause you're trying to make it look like technology is a bad thing!"

"Guys…" Lloyd tried again.

Jay placed a hand over his eyes. "C'mon guys, not again."

"Technology isn't _horrible_. It's just like everything else, it's got its positive sides and it's negatives. Now, remind me again what I'm supposed to be 'jealous' of?"

The auburn haired stood up. "Well, for starters, my parents wouldn't just ditch me - your Dad took off for his music career more than taking care of you! What's up with that? Obviously if your Mom passed away then he should've at least sent you to your grandparents or -"

"GUYS STOP!" Lloyd barged between the two of them and hoped he wasn't too late before their fight turned into something ugly.

Cole felt a pang in his chest. Jay shot up into a sitting position. "Woah woah _woah_ , _Kai_! You did _not_ just say what I think you said - did you?" He jumped to his feet and rushed beside Cole, careful not to step on Evan on the grass. He cast a look at Cole and saw him on the verge of tears. "Cole… are you okay?" Jay lifted a hand and gently set it down on Cole's trembling shoulder.

The raven-haired blinked rapidly while maintaining his posture. His fists were clenched by his sides, his knuckles turning white.

"Cole?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." His fingers relaxed and he shook his head.

Jay knitted his brows in concern. "No… you're not." He shot a glare at Kai. "What is wrong with you?! Why would you bring that up? You already knew not to!" He looked back at Cole, who had tears building up in his eyes. "Cole?" Evan ran up and rubbed his head against Cole's leg.

"You think he ditched me? Does it sound like he ditched me? My dad was all I had left, Kai. My grandparents? One of them _died_. Yeah, that's right - it's not just my mom who passed away! You didn't think my dad thought of that already? Maybe there was a reason I couldn't stay with my grandparents and heck, there was! But you didn't take that into consideration, did you? So I had to stay with my dad while he earned money for us by his music career. He didn't earn a lot, but he sure did earn enough and I learned how to take care of myself."

Without another word, he left to the empty field across from them.

Jay dropped his hands by his sides and glared at Kai before picking up Evan and following Cole.

A hand fell on Kai's shoulder. Lloyd leaned his head forward so that he could see Kai. "Listen Kai, I've known you since kindergarten… and I know you well enough to say you have no control over what you say when you get tempered, but learn to be aware of these things." Kai blinked a couple of times then looked around, tears in his eyes. Devastated, he sat back down, Lloyd following suite.

Jay set Evan down beside him after taking a seat next to Cole.

"Kai can be such a jerk," Jay blurted out. Cole didn't respond. "Or maybe not… I dunno… I mean he is really hot-headed. Er… I'm not good when it comes to these kinds of things."

"Neither am I," Cole said in response, picking at the corner of his eyes. He flinched when Evan sat on his lap. "Three days before summer vacation and Kai just loses it. What did I do? He's the one who has a temper!"

"We all have tempers, Cole."

"Fine then, Kai's just too hot-headed. He acts quickly without even thinking," Cole caressed his fingers through Evan's fur.

Jay frowned. He searched for something to say but before he could, Kai came forward. "What are you doing here?" He scoffed at Kai.

"I - may I?" He asked, motioning to the empty spot on Cole's right. Cole avoided eye contact as Kai sat down next to him. A little fidgety, Jay started to scoot away slowly.

"I'll um… leave you two alone… for a bit. Ciao!"

Silence fell between them once Jay left, leaving Evan with Cole. Without warning, Evan leapt from Cole's lap to Kai's, causing Kai to nearly jump from his spot. Cole held back a grin.

"I'm sorry about what I said back there. I lose control over what I'm saying when I get annoyed by people…" Kai started. Cole raised a brow.

"I was annoying to you?"

"No - no, not exactly… if anyone were to be called annoying I'd probably vote Jay."

Cole chuckled but nodded in agreement.

"I just _hate_ being proven wrong and… I just lose it. Haven't you ever felt that way?"

Cole pondered for a minute, letting Kai's words sink in. "Yeah… no I understand… but that doesn't mean you should yell things at the other person that could hurt them. And it hurt me a lot Kai. Jay should know."

"Mhmm, Jay told me about it… I'm really sorry. I just say the first thing that comes to mind to make the other person feel worse than I do… actually, I've had this habit since forever. Lloyd helps me through some things, and I help him in return. It's what makes our bond stronger, but it's what let's me know I trust him. It helped me to actually calm my temper, and as you guys call it, my 'hot-headedness'. I just never thought it'd come crawling back for me." Kai kicked a stone on the ground and Evan chased after it.

"I promise to try and stay away from that topic always." He said to him with a firm nod.

Cole shook his head in defiance. "Don't _try_ … just do it." At first Kai was taken back, but then he understood and nodded once again.

The two of them stood up and shared a tight hug, an apology from Kai to Cole.

* * *

"Hey, Cole," Jay began, backing away from the window, "do you ever find it a little weird that we're friends?"

"Um… no not really. What makes you say that?"

"It's just that, Lloyd was telling me about how long he's known Kai and they sound like they get along pretty well." Cole watched as Jay moved from across the room. "How is it that two different people became friends?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No! No it isn't… I don't think it is."

"You don't think it is?"

"Well it's definitely not to me." Jay said confidently. His expression fell and he lay down on his side on the bed, hugging Evan close by. "Ronin said at first, he thought I was joking when I said you were my friend. He thought I would've made friends with someone like Zane."

Cole rested his elbows on his thighs. "Ronin said that? When? He's seen all of us before _and_ seen us hanging out almost every week!"

"A few weeks ago. He just thought that I had no one else to hang around with most of the time, and since you were my roommate I'd yanno, follow you around or something. Like that time at the library when I fell asleep after saying I'd help you out. He thought, well roommates help each other. Most people would do the same, I mean, if you were in middle school or something and there was a drill, you'd probably find a classmate you sort of knew to follow to not look like a loner." Jay sunk his face into his pillow and came back up. "Not just Ronin actually… Kai said it once, Skylor - I was going to tell Morro but then things got… you know… but yeah."

"I can see why Ronin would think you would be friends with Zane instead. I mean you two are friends but not… close friends." He laid back and dropped his head against his pillow, staring at the ceiling above him. "But we've always been there for each other and yeah we don't _always_ get along, but best friends fight sometimes… right?"

"Yeah… _best friends,_ " Jay echoed. At first, Jay had been filled with pure happiness when Cole had called him a friend, and now, he was Cole's best friend. He didn't actually think he'd get to the point where he would ever hear Cole call him his best friend. But what were best friends? Could there only be one? Nah, right? No, definitely not, but calling someone your friend and adding the word best before it gave it a whole lot more meaning. At least, to him it did. It made him feel special for once in his life.

It made him feel like he was someone the other person knew they could trust and count on the most.

"Uh, Jay?" Jay shook his head wildly before answering Cole. He had gotten lost in thought and didn't realize that Cole had been calling his name.

"What's up? You need to talk about something?"

Jay sat up and got down next to Cole's bed, keeping Evan beside him. "Awe, dude you called me your best friend. Are we besties now?"

"I guess we're Awkward Buddies and besties."

Jay grinned from ear to ear. "You know, for all the time I was friends with Morro, he never once called me his best friend. I always asked but he avoided it by changing topics or just pretending he didn't hear me." Jay let out a mournful sigh. Cole shifted in bed and faced Jay. "You're my best friend too."

"Awkward Buddy handshake?" Cole suggested.

"Come to think of it, it's kind of like an unlikely friendship," Jay said during the middle of the handshake. Cole tilted his head. "You, me, we're different but are alike in some other ways… but when you're different, it's not all bad. You could open up the other person to new ideas and possibilities, and vice versa. Isn't it true that sometimes being the same can be boring?"

Cole nodded his head. "Yeah, but we aren't the same."

"And that's the beauty of it! Ta-da" Jay proclaimed as they finished off their Awkward Buddy handshake.

* * *

 **Yes, I know my name has changed a bit... I added a 95 to the end of it. One person has already guessed why that is, but if you haven't any ideas, leave them in a review! I'd love to see who else can get them right!**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	36. Life is a Highway

**Well that's it, I'm just going to stay it, I am horrible st keeping promises... heh. Sorry there wasn't an update yesterday even though I said there would be - I was hyping a lot over Spider-Man Homecoming and let me just say the movie was AMAZING! (Spider-Man has been my favorite Marvel/movie hero for a long long time.**

 **I even finally bought a SMH LEGO set today. I really love LEGO :)**

 **Quick note: As a FanFiction writer on here, I don't take fondly to when people leave the kind of reviews that say things like: "Update!" "Please update!" or just some short vague idea/comment that is not related to the chapter. I appreciate that you really like this, want to chat, and want more, but us, the writers, love to hear more than just "update!" and whatnot. :) thanks for the understanding.**

 **Anyways, enjoy the very late chapter and i hope you enjoy it! Author's note at the end.**

* * *

It was the last day of college and for the first time ever, Jay didn't want to leave. He cleaned out the rest of the drawers and zipped up his bags. "You ready?" He asked Cole, throwing one bag over his shoulder and lifting the other two.

Cole turned around, having already packing his things and cleaning up his side of the room. He was dressed in a striped, black and blue tank top and beige shorts while Jay, on the other hand, wore a solid light blue tee and grey shorts. It was supposed to be really hot today, at least in the 80s, so the Jay decided to wear a baseball hat. Cole took one last look around the room. "I guess I am. To tell you the truth, I don't wanna leave this place. I mean, ditching school would be fine, but all in all it's nice sharing a room. I never knew what that felt like in the beginning, of course."

"Neither did I…" _Sometimes I hate being an only child…_ Jay added in his thoughts. The words came out softer than expected and he cracked a smile at his roommate before motioning to the door. He followed Cole and Evan out of the dorm and switched off the lights before closing the door for the very last time.

The two of them went out of the building and searched for Jay's car. As soon as they found it, they threw their bags into the trunk while Evan jumped onto the back seat. Cole slid into the driver's seat and Jay in the passenger's seat. Even though Cole rode the bus to the campus, he was offered a ride home by Jay and of course, Cole couldn't say no to that.

All was quiet up till they reached the edge of campus, and Cole finally spoke. "So, that's it, huh? First year of college, and we survived."

"Wasn't so bad," Jay said with a shrug.

"Mmm… yeah, I guess."

"Ice cream?"

"Ice cream."

Cole stepped on the gas pedal and he drove the two of them to _O' Grandma's Frozen Treats_ , an ice cream store near the docks where the rest of the gang planned to meet up at at 3.

Stepping out of the car, Jay felt a knot in his stomach when he read that there were no pets allowed in the store, and he worried whether Evan would be alright in the car in the hot weather. He noticed a couple tables outside under large umbrellas and pulled Evan out from the backseat.

"How bout you get the ice cream and I'll wait out here with Evan?" Jay suggested, taking a seat at one of the tables.

Cole hesitated a moment. "Well - agh - I guess… what do you want?"

Jay grinned. "Three scoops, one strawberry, one mint chocolate, and another rocky road. Oh and if they let you put on extra toppings, I want chocolate chips and sprinkles." Cole looked at Jay taking in that demanding order. "What? I'm hungry and I love ice cream. Besides, what are _you_ getting?"

"Maybe just a simple two scoops of mint chocolate chip."

Jay pursed his lips.

"Look who's here already!" Kai shouted from behind and Jay nearly fell over in his seat. He stood up and left Evan on the chair.

"Kai!" Both Jay and Cole exclaimed in unison.

"Zane said he and Lloyd should be here in - Jay! Cole! It's great to see you guys again!" Nya threw her arms around the two of them and hugged them tightly. The other two exchanged glances, feeling a bit uncomfortable in Nya's tight embrace. Finally, Nya let go and she stepped back, dropping her hands to her sides with a smile on her face. "Evan!" She gasped and walked towards the chair Evan was standing on. "So, Kai told me you two were rooming next year. That must be nice!"

"Y-Yeah!" Jay cleared his throat, "It is," he finished with a quick glance at Cole.

Nya stroked between Evan's eyes.

"Where's Misty?"

"She's -"

"With me!" Came a deeper, yet familiar voice not too far from Kai. Kai stepped aside and raised a brow as Ronin walked past.

"Um, what's he doing here?" Jay asked coldly.

Ronin smirked at Jay.

"He's going to help me unpack my things at my new apartment. I finally found some place to stay that isn't my parent's house. If you guys wanna check it out before you leave then I don't mind." Jay and Cole nodded at once.

"Hey, I wouldn't want to pass up some ice cream," Ronin pitched in.

"Anyhoo, I'm gonna head in. You guys can wait for Lloyd and Zane but I want me some ice cream!" Kai said to them and marched inside the store, Ronin following closely behind after handing Misty to Cole. Cole looked around, confused at why Ronin gave Misty to him.

"What do you guys want?" Nya asked, giving Evan back to Jay.

"U-us?" Jay choked out.

"Oh, uh, it's alright. I was going to get him his ice cream anyways," Cole said to fill in for Jay.

"No, come on, I can get it for you two while you wait for Lloyd and Zane to come. S'no biggie," she told them with a smile.

Jay glanced at Cole from the corner of his eyes. The other was speechless. He couldn't find the right words to say, it was as if his brain had shut off. Just then, Cole smacked the side of his head.

"Thanks, Nya."

After the two of them filled in Nya with what they wanted and she went in, Cole sat down at the round table across from Jay and set Misty on his lap. Evan was clawing at Jay's shirt and by the look on Jay's face, he seemed as if he was just trying to ignore it.

"You know I still have a ton more video games that haven't been played for forever at my house…" Jay started.

"Bet you ten bucks I can beat you at every single one of them." Cole said slyly, the relaxed look on his face telling Jay he knew exactly what he was doing.

Jay blew a raspberry and rolled his eyes. "Challenge accepted, but I'll have you know I got an achievement for unlocking the Ultimate Gamer's Badge."

"Oh, hoh, it's on."

In less than a minute and the two of them were already making a bet and at each other's throats - in the friendly way.

"I will kick your butt."

"Not if I kick yours first."

"Hah, hah, very funny."

"We'll see who's laughing once they lose."

They glared at each other with the stink eye, holding it for nearly two minutes until Nya came out, holding two ice cream cones.

"What are you boys doing?"

"Just… stuff… you don't need to know about…" Jay murmured and slumped in his seat, accepting his cone from Nya. She raised a curious brow and handed Cole his cone. "Um, where's your ice cream?"

"Kai's got mine," she assured him. "Lloyd and Zane haven't showed up yet?"

Jay shook his head. "Maybe they got lost or something?"

"I'm sure they're alright, just running a bit late," Cole suggested.

Ronin, who was holding a cone with three scoops of ice cream, came outside with Kai, who held a small cup and a cone with two scoops. He handed the cup to his sister before sitting down next to Jay.

"Hey, Ronin, you're not coming to the movie with us, are you?" Jay asked out of the blue.

"Movie? What movie?"

Kai's brows drew inwards and he sent Jay a death glare.

"Ah… hah. It's just a lame movie, you wouldn't like it anyways."

"You guys are going to a movie and you didn't invite me? What a shame to think of you guys as my friends… especially you, _Kai_."

Fist clenched, Kai raised it in Jay's direction as if to say 'when I get my hands on you, Jay Walker, I'm going to kill you'. Jay was expecting this to happen after he brought it up, and to be honest, he brought it up just to see the look on Kai and Ronin's faces. Ronin started to laugh, as did Cole, but Kai on the other hand was still trying to come up with another excuse.

"What movie is it?"

"Defenders of the Universe: Volume Two…" Kai muttered, taking a giant lick of his ice cream.

"Meh, I wouldn't have wanted to see one of those movies anyways. Not a fan."

Jay gasped. "Not a fan? Are you a fan of Fritz Donnegan?"

"That Ritz guy?" Ronin slapped a hand against his thigh, "Nope. I don't even read comics."

"But - but last time, you said you had a ton of his comics sitting on a dusty shelf doing nothing."

"Eh, I wouldn't say doing nothing. I was waiting for the right time to sell them."

Jay's head perked up. "Have you sold them yet? Who'd you sell them to?"

"Jay, don't," Kai told him, sitting up straighter. "He's gonna overprice them."

"Don't listen to him, Jay. I'll price em just right so you can afford all of them." Ronin flashed a smirk at Kai and he rolled his eyes in return. Before Jay could say anything else, he caught Kai mouthing the word _no_ at him, and he glanced from Kai to Ronin.

Relaxing back into the chair, he crossed his legs and took another lick of his ice cream. "Sorry, bud, no can do."

* * *

It was fifteen minutes before the movie was said to start. But in reality, the movie would display about another fifteen minutes of previews, so in all honesty, the movie itself would begin at 6:45 ish.

It was just the five of them that night. Nya had left to move her belongings to her new apartment with assistance from Ronin. However, after the movie, Jay promised to visit Nya just before driving back home for the summer.

Kai had paid for the largest buttered popcorn, which came in an insanely large bucket. From there, he bought these small popcorn bowls/trays to split the popcorn for everyone.

When they were all settled in, Jay started to munch on his popcorn.

Starting from the left, there was Zane, and next to Zane was Lloyd, then Kai, next to him, Jay, and finally Cole.

"I'm betting this will be better than the first one," Jay whispered to Cole.

Cole flung a popcorn at Jay's face. "The first one will always be the best."

"That's what everyone says," he answered, eating the popcorn that fell on his shirt.

"By the way, do any of you guys commentary on movies?" Kai asked them, leaning forward in his seat.

"I sure hope not," Jay retorted.

"Guys, shush, the movie is about to start," Lloyd told them, the room beginning to get darker.

Jay relaxed in his seat and reached for more popcorn. When he couldn't feel for anything, he looked down and noticed it was all gone. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Cole still had a bowl full of popcorn.

"Heh, don't mind me…" he whispered, reaching over to steal some.

At the end of the movie, the five of them gathered by the poster for it outside.

Kai was the first to say something about it. "That was awesome!"

Jay and Lloyd nodded in agreement. "It was so amazing! Mack was great - as always."

Lloyd wrinkled his nose and shook his head straight Jay. "Ah hah, nope, Junis was the best."

Zane stepped between them. "I am sure we can all agree that Ax was the best of them all."

"Can't we all just say that they were the best as a team? I mean, that's like the one major reason I love this franchise," Cole piped in. Lloyd rested an arm on Cole's shoulder.

"He's right - but come. On. This movie was way better than the first!"

"Technically the second never would've happened after the first. They go really well together," Zane added to Lloyd's remark.

Jay squeezed between Zane and Kai. "Yanno, we should hang out more like this! There's another movie coming out in two weeks… anyone up for it?"

Kai shrugged. "I'm in," he looked at the others.

"Sure, why not?"

"Definitely."

"Well of course you can count me in," said Cole, earning a smile from Jay.

* * *

"Hey, Nya! Hi, Evan!" Jay bent down and opened his arms wide as Evan came crawling to him. "Thanks for watching him while I was at the movies," he said to her.

Nya pet Evan on the head and gave Jay a heartwarming smile. "Oh, no prob, Bob. Ronin's almost done taking out the last of of boxes. Where's Cole?"

"He's on his way up. Wow, you're apartment is...roomy!"

He took one look around the apartment room. It was very space with a pile of boxes by the kitchen. A small hallway beside him led to a bedroom and across from that a bathroom. Other than that, the rest of the room was up for decorating and judging by all the opened boxes, Nya probably knew what she was going to do already.

"It sure is, and I heard the neighborhood is great too."

"Doesn't this mean Kai will be living alone?"

"Yeah, I guess it does, but I'm sure he can take care of himself. Seeing as he handled a job as a barista pretty well, I'm sure he can at least prepare himself some coffee in the morning."

Coming out from behind a wall, Misty stumbled across Nya. The young woman cooed and lifted Misty into her arms. "You know, Evan and Misty seem to get along pretty well."

"Hah, really?"

"Yeah - oh! The rest of my boxes are here!" Nya exclaimed, looking over Jay's shoulders. Jay scooted to the side and watched as Ronin walked by, setting the boxes down with the others.

"That's it, right?"

"Yep."

"You need help unpacking some of that stuff?"

"I've got it, thanks."

Ronin saluted and he found his way out of the apartment building, leaving Jay and Nya alone.

Jay arched a brow after Ronin left and then looked to Nya. "He acts really nice when he's around you - when he's around us it's kinda like sly and sneaky."

"Like I said before, it's a bit of a complicated relationship."

"Okay…"

"You sound very unsure of yourself. You okay?" Jay gulped and nodded, a blush spreading on his cheeks. "Wanna help me unpack?"

"But you just said to Ronin earlier that -"

Nya shrugged. "I lied. I actually wanted your help, if you didn't mind that is."

"S-sure!"

* * *

Cole let go of the wheel as soon as the car was parked in the driveway of his house. The car fell silent for a bit and Jay stared at the garage door, wondering what Cole was thinking of now.

"I guess I'll see you around…" Cole paused for a brief moment, "like you said, we should hang over the summer. And thanks for letting me catch a ride home." Cole opened his door and stepped outside.

Jay sat frozen, his head swarming with thoughts as he tried to figure out what was going on around him. Swiftly, he opened his door and stepped outside, looking for Cole. "I'm coming," Jay started, opening the door, "I've never been in your house before, so might as well today." As soon as he stepped out, he observed the neighborhood he was in and his jaw dropped. "Woah, hey, we're actually not too far from _my_ house."

Cole pulled out his bags from the back and trunk. "Really? Also, mind helping?" Jay nodded and rushed over to Cole's side, closing the trunk for him.

Stepping inside the house, Jay gazed above him and spotted a small light above. With every step, he took in every inch of the house. He noticed a wide see - through door at the back. "So you live here alone?" Jay asked him, stepping into the living room, which was right across from the kitchen.

Cole could hear the sadness in his voice. He cleared his throat and put down his bags by the couch. "Um, yeah. But my Dad said he should be back in a couple of weeks…"

Jay walked to the bottom of the stairs and he looked to Cole. "I'm going upstairs." When he followed Jay up the stairs, Cole spotted him searching for Cole's room specifically.

Cole, of course knowing every room in the house, beat him to it and stood by the door, coughing loudly to get Jay's attention.

"I believe what you're looking for is right here," he said, motioning towards the room. Jay's eyes lit up and he rushed to the door, opening it slowly.

The room was fairly large, with a bed at the far back and a shelf right across from it. On the shelves there were a ton of books and trophies from when Cole was still in grade school. His room was simple; it wasn't as messy and wild as Jay's room, but it sure was nice.

"Spelling Bee 4th grade," Jay read on one of the trophies. "You were in the spelling bee? In _fourth grade_?" He gazed over the rest of the trophies. "Wow," he breathed in awe.

Cole stood by the door, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. "Yeah, before my mom passed away, she always encouraged me to do the things I loved. I didn't necessarily love spelling, but I liked being a part of a team… that's where all the trophies came from."

Jay skimmed through them one last time. None of them had the word 'first place' scrawled onto it, but all of them were given because of participation and effort. It was… amazing.

He leaned against the mattress of Cole's bed and collapsed on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Cole, I -" Jay quickly cut himself off. "I don't… want you to leave…" Cole remained silent. "I like having someone around."

"Yeah… it gets really lonely around here," Cole said softly. After that, Jay fell into deep thought and his eyes wandered around the room while Cole just stood against the wall, bowing his head.

Jay sat up in bed and Cole pushed himself off the wall. "It's already almost eleven… I should probably get going." He stopped in front of the door, hand hovering over the handle. Behind him, Cole sat down on the bed and stared down at the floor.

Suddenly, Jay turned around and the next thing he knew, he was caught in a tight and warm embrace. Jay lifted his arms and he hugged Cole back.

"Dirtclod," Jay murmured.

Cole laughed back at him, "Zaptrap."

* * *

Jay shut the door and sat, staring at the wheel blankly. He tried to look through one of the windows of the house and saw Cole picking up his bags and taking them upstairs.

He put in the key and started the engine, wanting to leave before the tears that were in his eyes swelled up even more.

* * *

 **I talked to a few of my readers about this and since this story is about one to two chapters till it's finally over, would you guys be interested in a short sequel? Just something about their summer [adventures]?**

 **Usually sequels don't get as many people reading it from the first, but I want to hear your feedback as well :) I'd be very grateful if you leave your thoughts!**


	37. Two Friends

**Well, last chapter of this story :') I was going to update it yesterday but it would've collided with the new Ninjago shorts. Man, I absolutely loved those! I hope they do more like that in the future, and hah, I called it that Shannon-Chan Kent was voicing the coffee robot and one of the female customers.**

 **Hope you all enjoy this last chapter!**

* * *

"Mom? Dad? I'm home!" Jay shut the door behind him slowly and softly before picking up his bags off the floor. Evan ran up the stairs. The lights were on, which meant one of two things. His parents were still up, or they had left them on for when Jay returned home.

He quietly walked to the middle of the room, on his way to the stairs until both his parents came out from the kitchen with open arms.

"Jay! Oh, kiddo, it's good to have you back!" Ed exclaimed, embracing Jay in a tight hug. Jay hugged back.

"It's great to be back," they released and he met eyes with his mother. "Hey, Ma…" after another embrace, but with the two of them, he asked, "you guys are still up?"

Edna nodded with a heartwarming smile. "We wanted to make sure you came home safely. I missed you so much, dearie."

"I missed you guys too, but you know what, it's late and we should probably get to bed."

"Hah, very true, son."

Jay followed closely behind his parents up the stairs. He parted ways with them when he came across his room and wished them a good night's sleep.

The door opened slowly and the lights flickered on, illuminating the room. Jay threw his things to the side and collapsed onto the bed, Evan following him inside. The kitten pounced on the bed and curled up into a ball.

It was nice to finally be home.

His fingers curled on the blanket and he gazed up at the ceiling, letting out a deep breath.

Home… finally home.

The corner of his lips curved upwards and he closed his eyes.

He finally decided to unpack his things, so he got off the bed and crouched beside his bags, carefully unzipping them. He placed the clean clothes back into his closet and threw the dirty ones into a pile. When he finally emptied his bags of clothes and whatnot, he gave each one one big shake before putting them away for the rest of the summer.

He stopped when he heard something bouncing around inside his duffel bag. Slowly putting it on the ground, Jay reached inside and felt around for the unknown object.

It was a crumpled paper ball.

Jay stared at it, struck with confusion. What was it? And what was it doing in his bag?

He carefully unfolded the paper and saw that on one side of the paper it read:

DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED YOUR FIRST YEAR OF COLLEGE.

A memory of this note started crawling back to him. He flipped the paper around and began to read.

 _Dear Jay Walker -_

Jay gasped. He quickly looked for the date. It was just a couple days before he left for college.

 _Dear Jay Walker,_

 _Congratulations on making it this far. You graduated high school and you're all grown up. I'm proud of you - or myself. I hope your first year in college goes well for you. And guess what, you get paired with a roommate! Now there's no need for you to feel alone. I bet whoever it is, you two will become great friends. Plus, you may even meet some girls! I know your past few experiences with having a crush didn't go so well, I should know - I'm you. But things can be different this year._

 _I don't really have much to say except good luck and don't die._

 _I believe in you._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Me_

"I…" Jay began to walk backwards until he hit the wall. He froze and poked his head outside of his room, his gaze falling on his parents room. He let out a breath of relief when he was assured that he hadn't woken them up, and closed his door softly.

Immediately, Jay seated himself at his desk and ripped out a piece of paper from his notebook. Taking out a pen, he got to work.

"Dear Jay Walker," Jay said as he wrote the exact same words on the page. "Congratulations, you didn't die and I'm happy to say that, you made it. You made it through your first year of college and ya know, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. You made a lot of new friends, friends who won't leave you, and friends who actually do like you for you. Would you believe it if I said, you even helped someone else become a better person. I probably wouldn't believe it too but it's true. I think it's even safe to say that you met someone who actually looks like she likes me back. Anyways, I've come pretty far but life is good and I wish I never had to leave. It's… nice having people by your side. Maybe not all the time, but for me, I like it…

And by the way, I've got a nickname now… it's Zaptrap. You won't believe who came up with it - my new friend. Um, my new _best_ friend.

Sincerely,

Me"

After folding up the letter, he opened one of his drawers and buried the it deep underneath all his belongings.

Tucking himself under the covers, he made sure not to wake Evan, and later leaned over to fix the action figure on his nightstand so that it was in a fighting stance. Satisfied with the pose he was in, Jay switched off the light and rested his head against the pillow.

"Night, Evan," he paused, "Night, Co-" he caught himself saying as he closed his eyes. In an instant, they shot right back open and he stared into the darkness surrounding him in sudden realization.

He flipped onto the other side and laid his eyes on the wall across from him.

 _Right… I'm home now… no more college, no more sharing rooms_ … he thought to himself.

He had gotten so used to saying that to his roommate every time the lights went off in their room. He shakily drew in a breath and reached for his phone on the nightstand.

The phone turned on cast a soft glow on his face, the brightness in the dark almost hiring his eyes. He opened his contacts and scrolled through the letters. Putting the phone a good number of inches away from his ear, he waited till someone picked up.

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

Straight to the voicemail. Jay frowned. He'd try again.

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

 _Ring._

"Hmm? Jay?" He heard Cole's tired voice say from the other end.

Jay internally cheered. "Hey, um, you're still up?"

"Y-Yeah… I was…"

"Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah, I was just watching some TV then I fell asleep."

"You're not going to go to bed?"

"No…" he heard Cole yawn, "not… yet…"

A look of worry crossed Jay's face. "Well, uh," Jay cleared his throat, "I just wanted to call and say goodnight."

"Goodnight… Jay…"

The line cut off and Jay put his phone face down on the pillow.

Then, he swept out of bed and found his way to his parents room. He didn't bother knocking cause it would make too loud of a noise, so he let himself in and crouched down beside the bed.

"Hey, Ma." He whispered loud enough for them to hear. "Ma… Pa…"

His mom stirred in bed. "Mm… yes dear?"

"Mind if I ask you something?"

* * *

Cole's first instinct when he heard the knock on his door was to pick up the closest book and thwack it on the stranger's head. However, he was too exhausted to do any of that and slowly made his way to the door, peeking through the blinds.

"What… what are you doing here?" Cole asked once he opened the door.

"Um, Evan missed you…?"

The ginger held up Evan and with a smile on his face.

"Very cute," Cole said and stepped aside, letting Jay in. He put Evan down on the ground and started towards the television. Cole had on a Late Night Show hosted by Darreth. "But seriously, what's the real reason you're here?" Cole noticed the backpack Jay had on. Jay caught Cole's stare and grinned, flashing the backpack at him.

"You got an extra room, bed or something? I don't wanna sleep in your Dad's room."

Cole locked the door and watched as Jay bounced around the house.

"Incoming book!" Jay shouted as a book came flying towards Cole. He ducked and crouched by the couch.

"Hah, that's my thing," Cole said to him.

"So you glad to see me or what?"

"Eh, I dunno. I was quite enjoying my time without you around." Jay wrinkled his nose. "It's quiet."

Putting his hands on his hips, Jay rolled his eyes. "Well _then_ , Mister I - Like - It - Quiet, I'm not leaving, and you can't force me to either."

Cole raised a brow with a slight grin, "Yeah, we've got an extra bed, but you gotta help me carry it upstairs."

Once the bed was carried upstairs, they set it down beside Cole's bed with a gap about three feet in between them. Cole threw on some pillows as Jay found a blanket. On the other side of the room, Evan was getting comfy by the closet. At last, they were done and Jay pumped his fists in the air and jumped on the bed. A minute later, Jay left for the bathroom, taking a small bag filled with a toothbrush and more inside.

Jay came back and Cole was already dressed in his nighttime clothes. "Welp," Cole started, fitting an earbud into his left ear, "it's _really_ late, we should head to bed."

"Fine," Jay grumbled and pushed his bags against the wall before settling under the covers.

Cole switched the light off and lay in bed, staring at the painted wall above him with an earphone in his left ear and his phone by his side.

"Hey, Cole?"

"What do you want now?"

"Now that I'm here… I can annoy you 10x more!"

"Oh for the love of -" he groaned, slapping a hand on his face with a slight chuckle.

Jay laughed at Cole's reaction and shifted under the covers. "Anyways, uh, I think you know the real reason I came."

Cole's eyes fluttered around the room and he remained silent for a few seconds before answering Jay. "It's not to hard to guess."

"Mind if I stay here for a while?"

"Nope, not at all."

"Night, Cole."

"Night, Jay." Cole took out his earphone and put his phone away, turning on his side.

"Love ya, bro." Jay added.

Cole paused for a brief moment, allowing a silence to fall between them. Jay's muscles tensed a little as he waited for Cole to say something.

"Love you too, Zaptrap."

* * *

 **Before I finally end this, I want to say, thank you for all of your wonderful readers! I'm so glad you enjoyed this because I enjoyed writing it for you guys too. Thanks for sticking with me through this email story, and I hope you will enjoy more of my future stories as well.**

 **This was my very first [full] fanfic on here and I appreciate everything that's come out of it. Many of you said yes to a sequel, so I will try and get one out :) I plan for it not to be too long but who knows, we'll see.**

 **At the moment, I'm going to focus and try to get out a few short stories since I have a lot left to do for the summer.**

 **Thank you all again!**


	38. Sequel?

**Hey, guys! I'm back from the dead! Kinda - I dunno! I've just been gone for a while but I'm back! (I have been reading a few stories though ;) ) I just wanted to say, thank you for reading this story and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! Lots of you loved it SO much that you wanted a sequel!**

 **Good news: I did start writing one! It might not be as long as this one, but hopefully it'll keep you just as entertained as this one :) though, after all, originals are the best.**

 **If you ever want to chat with me and keep up with what everything else is going on lately, example: The LEGO Ninjago Movie, MLP movie, certain shows/YouTube shows, I'd really appreciate chatting with you! I do love chatting with people about these things :) Warning that I rarely reply on PMs, so if you can find me on Tumblr or Instagram, or any of my other sites I put up in my bio, great!**

 **The first chapter to the sequel will be up in less than 24 hours as well :) enjoy! Hope you're having a great summer!**

 **\- FW**


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